Danganronpa: Reboot of Mutual Killing
by MentosgoBoom
Summary: A fallback plan. Of course there was one. Sixteen students stuck underground, each with no knowledge of the hell going on above them. When things started to seem bad all she needed to do was kick-start the 'Reboot' program and within no time she'd have the first member of the new Ultimate Despair ready to head out and spread despair for her. (SYOC closed).
1. Opening

**Well I wanted to write a story on this the second I finished watching the anime last week, but I decided to start playing the first game first so now that I'm on the Third Trail, I'm tired of waiting. This one's going to be fun. I can't wait to see what kind of crazy characters I'll get sent, so send 'em in. I've got a little under a month before I go back to school, so until then I will be able to write as long as I get enough characters within this next week or so.  
**

**Edit: Changed Milton's name to Hirase. This was an old document and I thought I changed it before.**

* * *

_Ding-Dong_

With a groan Hirase Suzuki lifted his head off of the desk, picking up and placing the large round wire-framed glasses on his face. He quickly ran a hand through his extremely messy black hair as he stared at the clock.

3:14 AM

He quickly slammed his head back down onto the desk just as the doorbell went off yet again. Instantly he jumped up, grabbing his white lab coat, slipping it on as he headed towards the front door. As he passed to kitchen he grabbed to glass of whatever was sitting on the counter, downing it in a single gulp before tossing the cup behind him. He quickly turned to hall lights on and opened the front door, ready to scream at whoever knocked at the unlawful hour.

At least he was until he saw that all that was there was a single letter sitting on the welcome mat. _Funny. Didn't know the mailman came at three in the morning. _He thought, grabbing the plain letter and slamming the door shut. His family was away, enjoying a nice vacation while he sat at home, so he didn't have to worry about anyone waking up to yell at him. He dropped the letter on the counter and opened the fridge to rummage through it, but of course it was in the same state he left it earlier. Empty. With nobody to get the groceries, he had eaten all of the food in nearly a few days. Grabbing another cup he quickly downed a whole three more glasses before his eyes finally fell on the letter yet again. Without waiting he quickly tore it open, ignoring the fancy seal and the weird stamp, throwing the envelope to the ground to join the rest of the trash that littered the entire house. Fixing his glasses, he stared at the contents intently, wondering exactly why he got the letter so late at night.

_Dear Mr/Miss _**Hirase**** Suzuki**, 

_Congratulations! As the Headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy, I'd like to welcome you to our school. Oh? You didn't apply to such a place? You didn't need to. If your receiving this letter, that means your one of fifteen extremely talented students that our scouts had found from across the country that has been selected to attend our famous school this year. That or your just some extremely lucky loser who managed to get picked out of hundreds of thousands of other students. You've been selected as the Super High-School Level_ **Mad Scientist**_ and are expected to attend our school in the fall. Of course you can refuse, but with out students being hired for major positions even BEFORE college, who in their right mind would refuse an change like this. We hope to see you in attendance this fall! _

_Sincerely _

_M. Kuma_

* * *

**Application:**

**Name: (Full. Middle Name optional)  
**

**Age: (High School)  
**

**Gender: (Self-Explanatory)  
**

**Title: (Ultimate-_ or Super High-School Level _) [Also I'll only accept one 'Lucky' Student]**

**Appearance: (Just the basic stuff needed to describe your characters. Hair, Eyes, height, weight stuff like that)**

**Clothes: (Yep, they'll be wearing same stuff everyday just like the games/anime)**

**Personality: (This one. Alrighty everyone, now we're at the speed bump. I'm going to need quite a bit, even if you'll have the first character to die, I don't plan on killing anyone for at least ten chapters. Then again since I don't have the characters yet I make no promises, but make sure that their personalities would match with their title.)  
**

**Bio: (Couple sentences. Even if they have secret background, since its through PM, only I'll know and there won't be spoilers)  
**

**Likes: (What they like)  
**

**Dislikes: (What they dislike)  
**

****Hobbies: (Things they do to keep from being bored)****

**Who they'd get along with: (Description)  
**

**Who they wouldn't get along with: (Description)**

**Other: (Whatever else you feel I'll need to know)**

* * *

**Rules/Guidelines:  
**

**1: Only send character applications through PM. It makes things so much easier for me. With the one I already have, I'll only accept Seven Males and Eight Females. **

**2: For now only one character per person (Rule subject to change depending on number of characters received within 3-4 Days)**

**3: By sending in a character, I get full control over what happens to them. Whether they end up a victim, killer, survivor, or mastermind I don't want anyone to complain at all. **

**4: Nearly everything will be the same as the first game, including the location. **

**5: Having trouble thinking of a Title for them? Just ask and I can easily help out with that, since this story originally started out completely with my characters only. **

**6: All rules are subject to change if needed. Other than this you can do whatever you want as long as you remember I have the right to refuse your character or send them back for fixing. **


	2. Prologue: Strange Bedfellows I

**VERY IMPORTANT NOTE. PLEASE READ SO THAT THE REST OF THE CHAPTER WILL MAKE SENSE TO YOU. Alright, now that I've got your attention, let's get back to business. So, I had a lot of feedback from everyone, and I'm thankful that you guys have stuck with me even though I basically dropped off the face of the Earth. I've got reasons, I swear. It mainly started when I moved back into my college dorm. The adjustment was a bit different because I wasn't prepared for my new schedule. Of course thanks to that I lost nearly all of my motivation to write. Towards the end of January I thankfully got it back and went back to writing from where I left off. But something just didn't feel right. During my break, I recieved a bunch of feedback and decided to dedicate more time and effort to each chapter then I had (Which wasn't what it should have been before.) Still I felt like I needed to go back and fix it all. **

**So from this point on, think of it as a new story. You've never met any of these characters before (Don't worry they're all the same), don't think like you know them from previous chapters. Even Yuka's going to be different (Actually very different. I got some input from her creator that I wasn't really doing her justice, so this restart won't make it seem like her personality changed in the middle of the story). For now I'm going to leave the old chapters, but expect them to disappear eventually.  
**

**Other things I need to mention. Expect some messages in the next few weeks if you sent in a character. There might be some things I need to ask about, or might need to leave out from your characters. I did a lot of revamping this past month, so a lot has changed. Something I do know I need of everyone is, at your earliest convenience, if you could, can you send in an execution that would fit your character as if they had been found guilty as the killer. While I know 100% who each killer is and who dies during each chapter, I've had a bit of trouble with working out executions. Guess I'm not as evil as I originally thought. Other than that all I want to say is thanks everyone who's still keeping up with the story. I can't wait to get back into the midst of this, and I hope you all like the rewrite as much as I do. Can't wait to get some feedback, so please, don't hesitate to tell me I'm completely butchering your character (Thought don't be mad, but I'm only introducing three this chapter). The order we'll meet everyone will be at the end of this chapter. Thanks one last time and sorry for the wait. Enjoy.**

* * *

I have no idea exactly how long I've been staring at the dim light of the small desk lamp pointing down at me. Millions of questions were going through my mind as I stared. Where was I? How did I get here? Why does my head hurt so much? Why am I lying on the floor, surrounded my hundreds of manilla folders and sheets of papers? How long have I been here? All of these questions seemed important, but for some reason, I couldn't bring myself to sit up. The room was ridiculously hot and I was drenched in sweat, the papers I was laying on sticking to my arms. There was some kind of putrid stench coming out of a desk drawer not far away from my face, but it didn't even phase me. There was this foreboding feeling that I couldn't shake in the air. A feeling that made me want to curl back up into a ball and close my eyes.

I've had feelings like that before. It was thanks to those feelings that I was still alive. I'd learned to trust my gut early on in life, and it saved my life while others died meaningless deaths. It was because of those feelings that I had been offered the title of Super High School Level Survivalist. A title I detested. Deciding not to waste more time worrying about things that didn't matter, I started to move.

With a groan, I slowly pushed myself up to a sitting position, looking around the small room. It was more like a small office room with only two desks. Each was grey and had two drawers with nothing on top. The one on the left smelled horrid, while the one on the right seemed to have seen better days. One of its drawers was hanging open and two of the legs had collapsed completely.

Without waiting any longer, I jumped to my feet, looking out the window that took up most of the wall behind the two desks. Outside was nothing but a plain dark grey wall and an old sign labeled LAUNDRY, with an arrow pointing down the left hallway. Looking down, I spotted my dusty old brown fedora sitting on a pile of folders. Thankfully, whoever put me in here left me the hat. It meant something to me, but even I didn't know what. Where many people saw just a hat, I saw a part of me, something important. Looking at the rest of the room, I saw that several filing cabinets were busted open, their drawers having dumped their contents onto the floor. Hundreds of manilla folders and thousands of pieces of paper laid across the small room, making the grey concrete floor nearly impossible to see.

To my left was a grey door with a small window on it. As I approached the window, I was able to get a quick glimpse of myself in it. Most of my bright orange hair was hidden under my hat, but enough of it messily stuck out to reach just above my shoulders. My clothing was nothing like what I usually wore. The dark red vest I was wearing over my plain white button up collared shirt was crooked and covered in dust, along with the sleeves of my shirt being rolled up. For some strange reason, I was even wearing a dark red skirt. I never wore skirts for anything, even on hot days like this I still wore pants. Feeling uncomfortable with my attire, and without wasting another second, I twisted the knob and left the stuffy, humid room. The hallway wasn't much better, but at least the rotting smell was gone and I had room to breath.

Surrounded by plain grey walls, I was able to see that the room sat at the intersection of three hallways. The one to the left, which held the sign labeled laundry, was dimly lit and seemed to have seen better days, paper and other odd items thrown about the hall. Opposite it was a dark hallway that I couldn't see the end of. Behind me was a long and brightly lit hallways that almost hurt to look at. There weren't any windows in sight, so the hallway was lit up with numerous artificial light bulbs that made the room I came out of look like a match compared to the sun. On the wall next to the laundry sign, I spotted a poster that had been taped to the wall.

It looked as if a grade school-er had made it, and appeared to be some kind of map, having been drawn in crayon and written on with colored pencils. The bright red 'You are Here' dot put me right next to a room labeled 'Record Room', which explained all the folders. Down the dark hallways was what appeared to be bathrooms, a set of stairs going down, and a larger corridor labeled 'Block One.' Down the bright hallways were two large rooms, one labeled GYM, while the other was labeled CAFE.

Before I could stare at the poorly drawn map, I heard footsteps coming from the bright hallway. Think about my feelings from earlier, I quickly turned around, only to come face to face with another boy. The two of us stared the other for a moment, before I jumped back. However, thanks to all of the junk strewn about the hallway, I lost my footing, quickly slipping and falling backwards.

I watched the boy's reaction as I fell, his eyes quickly widening as the back of my head slammed into the wall behind me. Nearly instantly everything went black. And for the second time today, I was unconscious again.

* * *

Almost as if I had been awake the entire time, memories began to flow into my mind and I was sent back to earlier today. As I stared up at the large building in front of me, all I could think of was how lucky I was. This building wasn't any normal building, it was one of the most prestigious schools in the world.

Hope's Peak Academy. Anyone who graduated from here was guaranteed to be someone important in the world years later. I had heard stories of people who graduated. One actress had went on to become extremely famous, starring in multiple movies as the lead. Another kid went on to be a well-known politicization. There was even this nut-job physicist who invented some kind of air purifier that could survive any natural disaster.

And here I was, one of sixteen students selected for the seventy-ninth class. I hadn't even gone to a normal school before this, so without a doubt I was shaking in my shoes, having been home schooled since childhood. When I got the letter several months ago, I hadn't believed it and ignored it until they sent several more letters and even sent a representative from that years freshman class to ask if I was alright. The tall boy with black hair was rather loud and spoke to me about politeness and responding the messages, before thanking me for my time. Having looked up that years class later, I learned that he was the Super High School Level Moral Compass. While I didn't exactly know what that meant I jumped at the change to attend the school, hoping to make something of the useless thing I called a life.

Now here I stood, about to start my first year of school. As I had not spent much time socializing, the fact that I would have to talk to other students was terrifying, but I quietly reassured myself that I'd be fine, but my legs still wouldn't move.

Needing a source of motivation, I reach into my pocket, pulling out the small letter that had invited me to the school. It had arrived in a fancy envelope with a stamp of the school on it.

_Dear Miss _**Yukari Takagi**, 

_Congratulations! As the Headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy, I'd like to welcome you to our school. Oh? You didn't apply to such a place? You didn't need to. If your receiving this letter, that means your one of fifteen extremely talented students that our scouts had found from across the country that has been selected to attend our famous school this year. That or your just some extremely lucky students who managed to get picked out of hundreds of thousands of other students. You've been selected as the Super High-School Level_ **Survivalist**_ and are expected to attend our school starting next semester. Of course you can refuse, but with out students being hired for major positions even BEFORE college, who in their right mind would refuse an change like this. We hope to see you in attendance! _

_Sincerely _

_..._

* * *

Yukari Takagi.

Super High School Level Survivalist.

Status: Alive.

* * *

I grinned slightly to myself, thinking about what my parents would have said if they had been around when I got that letter. Or course had they still been alive, there was no way that I'd have received that letter at all. After all, I really was just a normal easily nervous girl who had no amazing talent besides an amazing gut feeling. Shaking off any sad thoughts, I looked back up at the school and thought about the future I could have once I graduated. With my nerves settled, I finally took a step forward towards the front door.

However, as I took that step, the world around me began to spin, and I found to floor rushing up to meet me, before everything returned to black.

* * *

As my eyes slowly opened yet again, I found myself staring straight at a bright light. My hands shot up, pushing the light away quickly, before I slowly pushed myself to a sitting position.

"Yep, doesn't look like she's got a concussion. She's all good Rentaro." a voice next to me stated. The voice was obviously female and sounded rather amused. The next voice that I heard sounded male and relieved.

"Good. I didn't know what to do for a second. Thanks again Riley."

My eyes slowly adjusted to the lights yet again, and I looked towards the girl just as she laughed. "Don't worry about it. No injury is too severe or too simple for the Super High School Level Doctor." The girl was kneeling next to me, though she didn't seem that tall to begin with. She had blue eyes and blond hair that was carefully styled into ringlets along with a blue bow in it. The girl had a pale complexion and was definitely caucasian, unlike the boy or me. She twirled a small flashlight around in her hands, before standing up and placing it in a pouch at her waist.

"What happened?" I muttered, slowly trying to stand up.

"You might want to stay there for a few more minutes. Took quite a blow to the head." the girl stated, before grinning again. By now my eyes had fully adjusted to the light and I could see that she was indeed rather short. She wore a white dress that covered her upper arms and went down to around her knees, along with a pair of white shoes and brown socks. However, the most noticeable thing about her was the white apron that was way too big for her. Though the noticeable part were the dark bloodstains that covered several parts of it. The pockets of the apron were almost overflowing with all kinds of medical supplies and tools. From gauze to what seemed like a surgical saw to a rather large looking syringe, she had everything.

I quickly looked towards the other boy, who was still staring at me, wide eyed. He had bright green eyes and short dark brown hair that was nearly as messy as mine. He seemed to be pretty normal size-wise, but was taller than both me and the girl. Unlike her, his appearance wasn't nearly as flashy. He wore a simple uniform with a grey blazer, along with a pair of long black pants and leather shoes. He slowly stood up as well, before offering me a hand.

Not wanting to spend much longer on the floor, I reach up and grabbed his hand, easily being pulled to my feet in seconds. By now I noticed that we were still in the same area and that these two were the only people in sight. Next to the boy sat a small backpack that was leaning against the wall to the record room.

"Are you alright?" he asked me, still looking concerned.

"I'm fine." I stated, trying to flash a reassuring smile and laugh a little, but knowing that I failed miserably since he didn't seem any less concerned. "Just a bit of a headache."

"Trust me." the girl next to him spoke up, her voice sounding like she was filled with joy. "You'll feel that later." The boy's eyes widened before he looked back at me, scratching the back of his head.

"I'm sorry. I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Rentaro Kousaka. Super High School Level Private Investigator." he held his hand out, allowing me to slowly shake it. Without a doubt he was still worried about me, but by now I was starting to feel much better than when I woke up.

* * *

Rentaro Kousaka.

Super High School Level Private Investigator.

Status: Alive.

* * *

I was about to reply with my name, but the girl quickly cut me off, smiling politely. "Riley Nightingale. Super High School Level Doctor. I can fix any problem you may have!" Her cheerful voice nearly made me forget about the large, unsettling bloodstain that completely contrasted to colors of her nearly all white outfit.

* * *

Riley Nightingale.

Super High School Level Doctor.

Status: Alive.

* * *

"Y-Yukari Takagi." I stated, stammering slightly as I remembered that this was the first time in a while I spoke to people my age. "Super High School Level Survivalist. If it's easier, you could call me Yuka."

"Nice to meet you Yuka!" Riley nearly shouted, her smile as wide as possible. Suddenly, I quickly caught on to something that I didn't notice before.

"Are you two perhaps from Hope's Peak."

Rentaro nodded slightly. "Yes we are, and it seems as if everyone here is. Though none of us have a single clue how we got here. All I remember is walking towards the front door of the school." He quickly shook his head, as if trying to shake away an doubts. "So far, counting you I've found thirteen of us." His eyes quickly widened as if he'd remembered something and he bent down, rummaging through the bag, mumbling to himself. "S.A. No. A. H. No. Here we go. Y.T." He quickly brought something out of the bag, holding it out to me. "This is your student I.D. Its got your initials on it so you should be able to notice yours if its next to another." I slowly took if from him, holding the small black box in my hand. It was almost like the cell phone I never had was finally in my hands.

As I stared at it, a flash of light went off in my face. I quickly stared up at Riley, who was pointing hers at me and smiling. "Come on Rentaro, explain it all to her or she'll be confused."

"I was getting there." the boy stated, shaking his head slightly. "I'm not exactly sure what's going on, but I've been told you can access files on every student here once you take a single picture of them. I've also received instructions stating that once every student has filled the files with every other student, we'll be told everything. So I encourage you to get to introducing yourself as soon as possible."

"Alright then..." the words were almost so quiet even I couldn't here them. However, Rentaro spoke up yet again without waiting.

"I've got three more students to find, so Riley, if possible, can you introduce Yuka to some of the others. How about the five in the Cafe?"

"I was heading back there anyways." Riley spoke as if she hadn't a care in the word, let alone that we were somewhere strange with no idea how we got here. Rentaro then looked towards me one last time.

"Once again Yuka, I'm sorry about startling you like that. I didn't know you were there."

Flashing the same smile from before, once again not convincing anyone, I shook my head. "Its perfectly fine." He smiled and turned to walk down the dark hallway, waving as he disappeared into the darkness. Without a seconds pause, Riley latched onto my arm, pulling me down the hallway. Once she let go and made sure I was following, she reach into one of her pouches and brought out my hat, tossing it to me. I caught it and my eyes widened. I hadn't even noticed it wasn't on.

"That was next to you when Rentaro brought me over." Riley stated, beginning to skip down the brighter hall in front of me. "I see why you wear it. You've got that weird single spot of hair that sticks up like an antenna. I even tried to smooth it out while you were out cold, but it popped right back up."

As my face quickly grew red, I pulled the hat down over my face, trying to hide my embarrassment from the girl in front of me, who simply began to giggle as she skipped down the hallway. However, under my hat I smiled slightly. Is this what having friends was like?

* * *

**Well there you have it. Only took a whole month. At least now that I'm back I should be able to pump at least one or two of these out every two weeks. I'll leave it at that, but I promise nothing. School can be hectic, so who knows when some big paper's gonna pop up. The next chapters should be longer. I really meant this one to be short, simply because if I kept going it would have felt like I was cutting it off in the middle. I hope I did both Rentaro and Riley right, I know I'll get feedback on Yuka no matter what too. Well everyone, I'm happy to be back and thank you for reading. Until next time everyone, I hope to hear from you.  
**

**Credits:**

Yukari Takagi: Super High School Level Survivalist

Riley Nightingale: Super High School Level Doctor\- Artful Lounger

Rentaro Kousaka: Super High School Level Private Investigator\- ApexUtopia

Naoki Rumi: Super High School Level Composer\- SpiritSenpai

Koetsu Fukumoto: Super High School Level Janitor\- Giga Bros

Kyouji Kuromiya: Super High School Level Game Developer\- The Pie Eater 3001

Ikuo Sutuo: Super High School Level E-Sports Athlete\- PoisonBanana

Rieko Chikanatsu: Super High School Level Carpenter\- Mega Sableye

Ami Hitomi: Super High School Level Linguist\- CaptainQuackin

Kou Maki: Super High School Level Parkourist\- Sp1r1t

Shiori Akiyama: Super High School Level Poet\- Leixym

Siseal Atsu: Super High School Level Attorney\- OrangeEcstacy

Hachi Shunaiko: Super High School Level Jack of all Trades\- FireDusk

Animi Majikku: Super High School Level Magician\- BillyBioBob

Shuichi Hazama: Super High School Level Chemist\- Shadowplayer360

Osamu Seiyanagi: Super High School Level Societal Dropout\- Dreaded Prinny


	3. Prologue: Strange Bedfellows II

"So this place seems kinda cool, right?"

As I followed Riley down the dim hallway, the doctor continued to pour questions on me, all while she skipped down the hallway. We had passed a few other signs and rooms. Just before we passed a giant door, with the simple label GYM over it, and soon after passed the laundry room. Other than the hallway from earlier, we hadn't passed any other piles of garbage or any completely dark hallways.

"I dunno about that." I stated, staring at the walls as I walked. Without hesitating, the blond quickly jumped in front of me, getting right in my face with a giant smile on hers.

"Come on Yuka" Riley muttered, her grin widening. "Ya gotta have some fun sometimes!"

Staring down at her, I could only wonder exactly what part of this situation she found fun. The part where we passed out? Maybe the part where we woke up locked in a very strange building. Instead of speaking my mind however, I simply forced a smile and lied through my teeth. "Well, I guess it could be a little fun."

"See! Everything's better when you're having fun." Riley grinned and looked around the small hallway, tapping her chin for a second. "Alright, next topic at hand! What's with your title? Survivalist? What do you go into the woods for fun or something like that?"

I instantly stopped walking, clenching my fists and biting my lip in a desperate attempt to keep myself from talking. But of course, I still spoke up anyways. "Fun?" the was an undoubtedly hostile tone to my voice, and the doctor easily noticed, stopping short. As she turned towards me, I quickly snapped out of it, waving my hands in front of my face, which slowly began to turn red. "Oh- Uh. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap. I'm sorry. It's just uh, I don't really like to talk about it that much."

Riley's eyes narrowed slightly, before her smile returned and she began to skip along again, giving me a chance to sigh in relief. I had nearly blown up over a since question I'd likely get numerous times in the next few hours. If I wanted to avoid being suspicious, I really needed to keep myself under control.

Riley quickly stopped again, before turning back at me. "Oh yeah, counting you and me, Rentaro's found thirteen of the kids locked in here. Apparently there's only three more, so once you get the people in the cafeteria you're on your own. I'm going to look for the infirmary!" Once again I couldn't tell whether to be happy or concerned that she would be running wild alone again, but quickly decided that she was for the most part, harmless. She was a doctor after all.

"Speaking of which." Riley stopped dead in her tracks and stared right at me, her smile gone for a second. "You didn't take any pictures yet did you?"

That's right. Rentaro said that once everyone filled up their files with a picture of each students, we'd learn where we were and why we were here. After a few seconds of thinking, I realized I had forgotten something important.

"I forgot Rentaro." I muttered, quickly pulling my hat over my eyes to hide my embarrassment as Riley laughed next to me. Without asking for permission, the girl reach straight into the pocket of my vest, pulling out my handbook and shoving it into my hands.

"You also forgot me!" She quickly stepped back a few steps, before her face contorted into one of the most ridiculous smile's I've ever seen. I quickly snapped a picture of the doctor, hoping she would stop before I burst into laughter. Seconds later an odd ringing sound came from the handbook, and a small flashing icon showed up in the corner.

Before I clicked on it, I saw some of the other functions the handheld handbook did. There was a section labeled Student Report Cards with a small 1/15 symbol next to it. Under that was an icon labeled School Rules, but the icon wasn't lit up and I couldn't press it. After that was a small icon that looked like a folder labeled Clues, but when I clicked on it it was completely empty. The next icon was a small map, which showed the floor I was on in much better detail than the messily drawn map from earlier. I also noticed a smaller icon on the map, with a picture of my face on it. Next to it was an icon with a ! on it. I also noticed a bunch of other icons across the map, nearly all of them with ? icons. Sixteen in total and fourteen of them with question marks. I hit the back button, before hitting the little flashing icon and the screen switched to a small profile with the ridiculous smiling face of Riley staring back at me.

As I went down the information I noticed a lot of stuff. Height, Weight, her title. _Wait a second. _Taking a second look at the girl's weight, my eyes widened. 178 lbs was listed under the small girl's weight. I quickly looked the grinning doctor up and down, settling on the fact that there must have been some kind of error in the handbook and continued on. Everything else about the profile was completely normal, other than a single line that gave me a feeling I couldn't describe.

Status: Alive.

What did that even mean? Of course she was alive, I was staring right at her. As if she knew where I was, she quickly leaned over, nudging me. "Don't worry about that. Rentaro thinks its just some weird term that means our handbooks are functioning right." Without waiting for a reply, she grabbed my arm, pulling me along again. "Come on slow poke, we don't have all day to wait for this picture stuff. I wanna explore."

After several more minutes of dragging me alone, we came upon another double door, this one with the word CAFE written over them. "In ya go kid. Have fun socializing." With a simple wave, Riley pushed me into the cafe and skipped away.

With my sudden entrance, I was instantly the center of attention in the room, finding five pairs of eyes locked onto me instantly. My nerves quickly got the better of me, but before I knew it, most of them went back to what they were doing. The two boys at the larger table went back to their conversation, but the blond haired one kept looking up at me. The guy in the back went back to fiddling with something in the broom closet. The girl near the kitchen walked back inside, leaving the girl sitting at the smaller table listening to music the last one staring at me.

Cursing my nerves again, I forced myself over towards her, an obviously forced smile on my face. "Um, hi?" The girl had long red hair that stopped at her shoulder and stared up at me with her red eyes for a second, before pushing the right side of her headphones back and speaking up.

"Hi."

"Um, my name is Yukari Takagi. If you'd like to call me Yuka that's fine." I muttered out nervously smiling slightly. I could easily hear the classical music due to how loud her headphones had been, and easily recognized the classical music that I had listened to during one of the odd phases I went through before coming here. "You must be Naoki Rumi? The Ultimate Composer?"

She seemed generally surprised and quickly switched off her music and lowered the white headphones until they were around her neck. I noticed as well that the headphones were connected to her handbook, which she slipped back into her pocket quickly. "How'd you know that?"

Nervously, I began to reach for my hat, but forced myself to continue the conversation. "I-uh... I looked up everyone on those blog websites all over the internet before I came here. I really only found a few. You were the only one mentioned by name too."

* * *

Naoki Rumi

Super High School Level Composer

Status: Alive

* * *

Naoki quietly stared at me, before standing up and holding out her hand. "Nice to meet you." As I shook her hand, I finally got a good look at the composer. She was around my height and was wearing a black school jacket and a white dress shirt, along with a red and black checkered tie. She also wore a black skirt, black leggings, and white dress shoes. She smiled slightly as she pulled her hand away, looking around the cafeteria. "Even if you knew who I was, how did you know that it was really me? You could have just been with a bunch of other strangers."

"Well-" I slowly began to talk, hoping to get rid of the nervousness once and for all, but it stuck. For the past few years, I've been a bit of a recluse, choosing to stay inside alone, rather than talk to others and go to a normal high school like people my age. I guess I'm just a bit nervous around people my age because of it. "When I talked to Rentaro and Riley about their titles, I guessed that everyone here was from Hope's Peak."

"Really? It took me a few more people to figure that out." Naoki admitted, looking around the large cafeteria. "This place is rather bland isn't it."

_Well of course,_ I thought, looking around the room, _nearly everything in the room was painted pale grey and bolted to the floor_. Each of the tables and every single chair was bolted to the floor with large nails. Another thing that had me concerned was the window between the kitchen and the cafe. I could easily see the other girl inside, digging through one of the drawers. However, the window was covered by giant iron bars on both sides. The side in the kitchen going vertical, while the one on the cafe's side going horizontal.

"I think they just really liked grey." I muttered, looking around, finding myself locking eyes with the blond boy at the other side yet again. Naoki seemed to notice me and followed my gaze, before frowning.

"Kyouji Kuromiya." She muttered, shaking her head. "Just like a boy he can't stop looking you up." At the girl's statement I nearly went blood red and I pulled my hat down nearly instantly, struggling to stammer out a word.

"Wha- no I- he's definitely not... no way- just no-" I dragged the hat down nearly all the way over my face attempted to hide behind a pillar in the middle of the room. Naoki quickly began to apologize to me, but I can tell she was trying to hold back her own laughter, and frankly I didn't blame her.

"I'm sorry Yuka. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." She quickly attempted to change the subject, taking her handbook out. "How about we do the picture thing?"

I nodded, pulling mine out and staring at it, before quickly remembering something. "By the way Naoki, were you listening to music on yours earlier?" She quickly nodded, before leaning over and pointing towards another icon I hadn't noticed before.

"Each handbook has a special function specific to its owner. Mine was a collection of music, though it was all my own. I think I heard one of the others saying theirs was a list of blueprints."

I hesitantly clicked on the icon, knowing that I wasn't going to like what was behind the icon. Of course I instantly frowned, seeing the title, which was labeled: YUKA TAKAGI'S SURVIVAL TIPS. Without waiting a second I switched back to the home screen and went to the camera, forcing a smiled for Naoki, who seemed slightly concerned. "Its nothing interesting."

While I didn't seem to convince her, Naoki quickly went to her own camera and we exchanged photos of each other, both stopping to skim each others files.

"Your the Survivalist huh?" Naoki muttered, before looking around. "I'm sorry Yuka, I'm going to find a bathroom. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye." I stated, watching her walk out of the cafe, before letting out a deep sigh. I quite possibly just ruined my chance at making a friend because I couldn't handle a few words. As I stood there, lost in my own mind, I failed to notice the figure approaching me from behind.

"A skirt, vest, dress shirt... ah the hat. Yukari Takagi."

I jumped slightly, turning around to find myself face to face with another grinning student. He was incredibly short and had a round plump shaved head and dark brown eyes. He was also incredibly scrawny and wore a white t-shirt under blue overalls and a pair of sneakers. I quickly recognized him as the kid who was rummaging through the broom closet earlier. "Um... hi?"

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. I felt like I might as well introduce myself." He said, before holding his hand out. "Koetsu Fukumoto. Super High School Level Janitor."

* * *

Koetsu Fukumoto

Super High School Level Janitor

Status: Alive

* * *

"Um... how did you... know my name?" I muttered, staring straight at the smaller boy, who simply smiled back.

"I went down to where the map on the handbook said dormitory, and there was a whole bunch of rooms that looked brand new. Shiny doors and everything. Speaking of the doors, each one of them had this cool pixel drawing of some of the students. I only recognized yours because of the hat."

"I see..." I stated, slowly looking around the room again, hoping Naoki would come back soon. Thinking to myself, I remembered that there was no dormitory on the hastily drawn map.

"By the way, you don't look too sure of what's going on." Koetsu said, before smacking himself on the side of the head. "Well duh, none of us do. Here, how about I give you a rundown of the rooms on this floor." I nodded slightly as the janitor took out his handbook, starting to scroll through the map. "Alright, so right now we're in the cafeteria, which is connected to the kitchen. Somewhere around here there's a supply closet. The dormitory is on the other side of the floor, as is the infirmary and the front entrance way. Around the middle of the floor we've got some bathrooms, the laundry room, the record room and the gymnasium. Somewhere around there is the stairs to the next floor down."

"There's another floor?" I asked, wondering if there was a way out.

"Yeah, but the girl in the kitchen told me that it was blocked off, so it looks like there's no luck there." Koetsu sighed, before looking at me again. "But hey, no need to feel down, the broom closet they've got in here is completely stocked for any emergency.

_Broom Closet? _I had heard him right, within seconds Koetsu went off on a rant about every single broom and mop inside, barely giving me a moment to keep up. After what seemed like hours, the janitor quickly snapped a picture of me, before skimming through my file.

"Cool, you should hurry up and get the others Yuka. Most of us are nearly done with the files, so you should hurry up if you don't want to be the last person." I quickly snapped a picture of the boy and turned around, thinking over which of the remaining group I should talk to next. The two boys seemed to be in the middle of a conversation, but the girl seemed like she was focused on something in the kitchen.

In the end I didn't even get a choice. One of the boys quickly waved me over, and the second he stood up to shake my hand, I felt like an ant standing next to a skyscraper.

The blond haired boy remained sitting as I walked over, but my eyes settled on the blue haired giant standing in front of me. He wore a white jacket with black lining over a red t-shirt along with a pair of black jeans and shoes. He also had a pair of gold eyes hidden behind rectangular glasses and his deep blue hair went down to around his neck.

I slowly shook his hand, stammering to find the words needed to greet the duo. "H-hi..."

"Hello." the giant boy stated, smiling slightly. "Ikuo Sutuo. I'm the Super High School Level E-Sports Athlete." Ikuo then turned towards the other boy, who Naoki had told me was named Kyouji. "This is Kyouji Kuromiya. The Super High School Level Game Developer"

* * *

Ikuo Sutuo

Super High School Level E-Sports Athlete

Stauts: Alive

* * *

Kyouji Kuromiya

Super High School Level Game Developer

Status: Alive

* * *

That explained what the two had been talking about. Video games. "Yuka Takagi. I'm the Survivalist..." I muttered, staring at the ground as I mentions my so-called talent. Ikuo seemed to notice something was wrong and quickly slapped me on the back, a large grin on his face.

"Don't be so down Yuka! A weird talent is much better than no talent!" he stated, looking towards Kyouji, who was tapping his fingers on the table.

I forced a smile and nodded towards him. "Well, I guess."

"You know." Kyouji spoke up for the first time, staring straight at me. "You remind me of a character from a game I played a while back. Tomb Raider. Both you and the main character remind me of each other."

Ikuo quickly nodded, as if he'd been thinking something similar. "Ya know, you're right."

While I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about, I still nodded, before looking at Ikuo. "Have you two seen the rest of the school?"

"Some of it." Kyouji admitted after a short pause, looking up at me and yawning slightly. "From what I've seen there's absolutely no windows and the whole building's lit up with artificial light, or well, at least this floor is."

Ikuo nodded next to him, before continuing. "Earlier I went near the front entrance way, but I didn't stay long. There was a giant computer monitor on the left, which is probably where you put in the code to open the doors."

"Maybe we can guess?"

Kyouji shook his head nearly instantly. "I wouldn't."

"Why?" I asked quietly, though I knew I probably didn't want to hear the answer.

"There was this giant machine gun hanging from the ceiling." Ikuo stated, running a hand through his hair as he sighed. "From the second I got close to it, it followed me around until I walked away. Probably got some kind of motion sensor on it."

_A gun? Why would there be a gun in a building with a bunch of high schoolers in it? _I thought, frowning slightly. "Well thanks for telling me that. I think I'll avoid that area."

"Yeah. We should probably tell the others too." Ikuo stated, before turning back to me. "Why don't we take the pictures and send you on your way." Both Ikuo and Kyouji took out their handbooks and snapped a picture of me. After waiting a second while they checked their handbooks, I quickly snapped two pictures of them and thanked them, before walking off and heading towards the kitchen.

As I walked through the giant iron doors that separated the two rooms, I noticed that they were being propped open by some kind of door stopper. The kitchen itself seemed like a deathtrap in its own. Large knives and stakes hung from the ceiling. The back wall was lined with at least six giant fridges and a single freezer that was easily taller than Ikuo. On the island in the middle of the room was a collection of pots, pans, and various other cooking utensils. In the back of the room, rummaging through the drawers was the last girl in the cafe-kitchen area.

I slowly knocked on one of the counters and the girl jumped up, turning to look at me for a second, before standing up full. "I was wondering when you'd come in." She spoke with a completely monotonous voice and stared at me as dusted herself of placing a large kitchen knife on the counter. "This place is a deathtrap."

"I can tell." I muttered, before staring at her. She had short, choppy dyed purple hair and thin green eyes. She was rather short and had slightly tanned skin and her face was covered in freckles around her nose. She wore a flannel jacket over a white top, along with a pair of ripped up jeans and hiking boots. She also wore a blue beret and had a pair of leather gloves hanging out of her pocket. I slowly held my hand out to introduce myself. "Yuka Takagi. Super High School Level Survivalist."

She stared at my hand for several seconds, before slowly shaking it and looking up at me. "Rieko Chikanatsu."

* * *

Reiko Chikanatsu

Super High School Level Carpenter.

Status: Alive

* * *

With that she spoke no more and quietly pulled out her handbook, snapping a picture of me in a second. She stared down for a second, before looking up at me. I slowly retrieved mine and snapped a picture, staring down at her file.

Reiko Chikanatsu. Super High School Level Carpenter. So that was her title, Carpenter. I went to ask her about the building, but she had quickly went back to rummaging through the drawers again. I slowly turned around and left her to what she was doing, not wanting to bother her any longer.

With Riley and these five, I still needed eight more pictures before we'd be able to learn everything. I waved to Kyouji and Ikuo as I passed, noticing that Koetsu was still rummaging through the closet and Naoki hadn't returned from the bathroom yet. Taking out my handbook, I stared at the map, noticing that some of the question marks had turned into pictures and the exclamation point was now near the gym. I sighed as I placed the handbook back in my vest pocket, deciding to head for the dorms and check out the pictures that Koetsu had told me about.

Walking through to cafeteria doors, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being watched.

* * *

**There we go everyone, five more down. We're HALFWAY THERE! Eight more and we can finally get to the good stuff. Two more chapters with four each and we're done.  
**

**So I've got just one thing I need from you guys this chapter. Those executions people! I've only gotten two out of fifteen that I need. If your scared that make your character a killer if you send one in, don't worry. Nothing is going to change. I've got all of the deaths and culprits already, so there's nothing to worry about. Its just there to help me out. **

**Thanks again and I hope everyone enjoys! 'Till next time!**


	4. Prologue: Strange Bedfellows III

Staring down at the map on my handbook, I found myself standing in front of the section of the floor labeled the dorms. According to the handbook, it was completely empty, but what Koetsu told me about the dorms earlier left me thinking about them. If there really were pictures of each of us on the doors, it just made the mystery surrounding our situation even more confusing. The large iron gateway in front of me simply added to my confusion, which wasn't helping my nerves at all.

Instantly after walking into the dimly lit section of the hallway, I found myself staring down a very long hallway which had eight doors on each side. Just like the rest of the building it was painted a dull pale grey. However, this hallway lacked the same iron bars that the rest of the doors I'd seen earlier. Just like Koetsu had said, the first door had a large picture in the middle with a pixel picture of a girl in a apron with hair that resembled Riley's. After several seconds I realized that it was supposed to be Rileys. Two doors down I spotted one that resembled Rentaro, and one that looked like Rieko next to it. On the other side I spotted myself, wearing the same clothes I am now, along with my usual hat. Next to it I saw a taller boy in a doctor's coat, though he didn't look like any of the others that I've met.

"Excuse me?"

I had to have jumped nearly a foot in the air at the loud voice of the girl who had crept up behind me. I quickly turned around, finding myself face to face with a girl who was having trouble keeping herself from laughing. "I-"

"No...no... I'm sorry." the girl stopped laughing after a second, before smiling. "I didn't mean to startle you." The girl was slightly shorter than me and had dark brown hair with a pink highlight and light green eyes. She wore a dark blue skirt and a plain white shirt, along with a pair of dark grey tennis shoes.

"Its... alright." I muttered, shaking he head slightly. I quickly spotted the sign that looked just like this girl on the other side of my own sign.

"My name's Ami Hitomi." she stated, staring at the signs as well. "I don't think yours does you justice. You're a lot prettier than that."

My eyes widened slightly and I started to pull my hat over my eyes. "Uh... no-I... no."

Ami's smile grew as she walked over towards me. "So modest." she stated, before looking around. "So do you have any idea where we are... uh..."

"Yuka."

"Yuka!" Ami shouted, grinning. She stared down the hallway for a second, looking at each of the pictures. "There's a bunch of interesting characters here."

I stared at the for a second, before taking out my handbook and staring at it. I clicked on the map icon, confirming that the map said that nobody else was in the dorm area.

"What's that?"

"Its a-uh... handbook?" It didn't take long for me to realize that she likely didn't meet with Rentaro yet, so she probably didn't have her handbook, which is why mine wasn't picking up hers. "Did you not get one yet?"

"Nope. Where'd you get it?" She asked, practically snatching mine out of my hands.

"One of the others gave it to me." I muttered, trying not to make eye contact with the girl. "He said he had a few more people to find." Ami turned it over, spotting the large Hope's Peak Academy symbol on the back.

"You're from Hope's Peak?"

"Uh...yeah?"

Ami's smile widened as she jumped in front of me. "Wunderbar! Magnifique! Perfetto!" She quickly shoved my handbook back into my hands before continuing. "That must mean that this has something to do with Hope's Peak right? Perfect. I am the Super High School Level Linguist. It looks like we're going to be classmates."

* * *

Ami Hitomi

Super High School Level Linguist

Status: Alive

* * *

"I'm not sure that we're here for class." I stated. "This place doesn't seem like its Hope's Peak."

"Then why did we get those?"

"I'm not quite sure." I shook my head as I checked the handbook once more, seeing a cluster of 3 different question marks near the laundry room. "Nothing makes sense today."

Ami simply smiled as she walked over to the door with her face, twisting the handle to see if it was open, only to find it locked. "Damn..."

"Um... If you'd like... I can help you find your handbook." I muttered, staring at the ground and cursing my social skills yet again.

"Really? That would be great!" Ami smiled and grabbed my hand, quickly pulling me out of the dorms and into the hallway. "Lead the way Yuka!"

"Its just a left down there and then another left at the infirmary and we're there." As she dragged me along, I puled by hat back down in an attempt to hide my embarrassment, though she didn't seem to notice and continued to pull me along. After taking our first turn and rushing down the end of the hall, Ami stopped suddenly in front of the infirmary, staring at the door. Taped to the door was a small hand-drawn picture of a stick figure holding what seemed to be a knife standing over another stick figure that seemed to be missing its head. Over the image was the words 'KEEP OUT' in large words along with a quickly drawn smiley face. Taking another look at the first figure, I noticed that it bared a strong resemblance to someone I'd already met. It made sense that Riley would have headed towards the infirmary first, being the Super High School Level Doctor.

"Uh-"

"Don't worry about it." I muttered, forcing a slight smile in an attempt to reassure her. "I'm pretty sure she's harmless." With that the two of us headed down the hall and into the laundry room. It was rather small, about the same size of the kitchen, with one wall made up of washing machines stacked up on each other, while the other was made up of dryers. Other than a few clotheslines and a small table that had a few magazines thrown on it, the room was nothing special.

"Yuka?"

Looking towards the back, I spotted Rentaro in the middle of handing over a handbook to another boy. He had pale skin, short black hair that was mostly covered with a place beanie, and baby blue eyes. He was taller than me, around the average height for a high school boy and his clothes were rather plain when compared to some of the others I'd already seen. He wore a dark blue denim jacket over a baby blue t-shirt, along with a pair of black sweatpants and sports shoes.

"Uh... I was just-"

"So you're the guy handing those out." Ami stated, smiling and walking over towards Rentaro. "Where've you been for the past hour." The private investigator stared at her for a moment before sighing.

"Sorry." Rentaro stated, handing over the boy's handbook, before turning to Ami. "I've been looking for everyone since I woke up. I assume your initials are either A.H. or S.A.?"

"Ami Hitomi." she stated. "Please to meet you..."

"Rentaro Kousaka."

The two went on for a while, with Rentaro trying to explain the functions of the handbook while Ami listened. However, I noticed the boy in the corner looking me up and down, before starting to walk over.

"Y'know, you're pretty cute." My reaction was nearly the same as when Ami made a similar comment earlier, my hands quickly brought my hat over my head to hide my face and I quickly stuttered over my own words in an attempt to form a sentence.

"I- no... that's not really... I..." the boy's smile grew wider, until I quickly found an ounce of courage and shouted. "I AM NOT CUTE!" Almost instantly Ami and Rentaro looked straight at us, Ami's smile as wide as possible, while Rentaro simply looked concerned. With the ounce of courage gone in an instant, my face quickly turned as red as possible and I felt like I was about to die on the spot.

The boy quickly waved his hands, laughing nervously in an attempt to show the other two nothing was wrong. "Uh, look I'm sorry... You're not cute okay? Pretty average I guess?" Ami quickly burst into laughter, while Rentaro sighed and shook his head. "No. That's wrong! You're uh... slightly above average?"

After several seconds of muttering random words to himself, the boy quickly shook his head and held out his hand. "My name is Kou Maki, and I am extremely sorry if I insulted you in any way."

* * *

Kou Maki

Super High School Level Parkourist

Status: Alive

* * *

"Its... alright." I muttered, my face still covered as I slowly shook his hand.

"You're Yuka right?" he asked, scratching the back of his head. I quietly nodded, before he continued. "Alright so anything you need, just ask and I'll see what I can do to help. I owe you that much alright?" As he walked towards the door, I slowly began to lift my hat away from my face, however he quickly turned and snapped a picture of Ami, before turning towards me and doing the same, while allowing me to snap a picture of him. With that done, he ran out the door, leaving me alone with the other two. After several minutes Ami thanked Rentaro and walked over to me, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Look at you Yuka, already got guys chasing after you."

I quickly shook my head, laughing nervously in an attempt to shake the idea from her mind. "No, nothing like that." Ami smiled, before quickly taking a picture of me. After letting her read my profile, I quickly took a picture of her and shoved the handbook back into my pocket.

"Thanks for helping me out Yuka."

Ami quickly left the room, leaving me alone with Rentaro, who quickly walked over towards me. "There's a bunch of... interesting people here."

"Yeah." I muttered, before quickly remembering that I failed to take the private investigator's picture earlier. I brought my handbook out of my pocket and turned towards him. "Um."

"Go ahead." he stated, allowing me to quickly snap a picture and skim through his profile. "How many more do you have to meet?"

I quickly checked the map and began to count all of the remaining question marks. "Six."

"Good." he said, staring out the door. "The quicker we get this done the quicker we'll be able to figure out what's going on."

"Any idea who I should go meet yet?" I asked, hoping that he would know which of the remaining students would be easier to talk to. He appeared to think for a minute, before nodding.

"By the front hall there's a girl. She's pretty quiet and didn't say much when I gave her the handbook. Either her or a boy who's checking out the storage room." I quickly thanked him and turned to leave, before he stepped forward. "Be careful Yuka. We still don't know much about this place."

I nodded and continued down the hallway, following my map to the front gates. The entrance itself was separated from the rest of the building in its own little room. I quietly pulled open the door and walked in, stopping when I saw the room itself. The first thing I noticed was the large gun hanging from the ceiling that quickly began to follow my movements, similar to what Kyouji and Ikuo had told me earlier. The door itself looked more like a giant safe that you'd see in a bank. There was a small computer screen connected to it, probably for the pass code to open the door. Other than that the room was just like the rest of the building, grey and boring.

"I'd stay away from that if I were you." the voice came from behind me, in the hallway in front of the entrance room. I quickly made my way back into the hallway, finding the girl Rentaro told me about sitting against the wall, staring up at the ceiling. She slowly stood up, walking towards me while taking out her handbook. Almost instantly she snapped a picture of me, before pocketing her handbook. "Take you're picture."

I quickly nodded and pulled out my handbook, using the camera to quickly snap a picture of the girl, who seemed completely disinterested in the current situation. She was a rather thin girl of average height and had reddish brown hair that she kept in a bun, except for the messy bangs that framed her face. She also had a beauty mark under her right eye, while her dark grey eyes were barely half opened, and along with her slight frown finished off her bored and disinterested look.

She wore a lavender sleeveless turtleneck, along with a loose white skirt and a pair of black tights. She also wore a pair of black flats, along with a loose white sweater which was longer in the front. In her hair was a white headband with a bow on the left side. The girl quickly pulled her handbook back out, staring at it for a second, before looking back up at it. "Yukari Takagi... sounds familiar."

"Oh... uh..." I quickly attempted to shake the idea that I was familiar, hoping that she wouldn't remember anything about my title. "I'm nobody important." She stared at me, likely trying to remember my name.

"Shiori Akiyama." she stated, giving up and returning to her seat by the wall. "I'm the poet."

* * *

Shiori Akiyama

Super High School Level Poet

Status: Alive

* * *

"Nice to meet you." Shiori yawned slightly, staring up at me before shaking her head.

"Don't you still have some other people to meet? Hurry up so we'll finally know what's going on here." With that statement, the poet stopped talking to me and shut her eyes.

I quickly turned away, not wanting to disturb her anymore and headed down the hall, back towards the Cafe where the storage room was, hoping that the boy that Rentaro mentioned was still inside. After making my way through the dim hallways, I passed the Cafe, where I could hear Ami and Kou talking with the others who had already been inside. I made my way to the end of the hall and took a quick turn, walking a few more feet before finding myself standing in front of a large pair of wooden doors, rather than the usual iron gates.

Walking inside, I found numerous shelves stocked with practically unlimited boxes of anything from canned fruit to video games. I quickly made a mental note to return later in order to look for a pair of new clothes. I figured that you could probably find anything you'd need and more inside this room. However, towards the back it seemed like several of the shelves had collapsed and most of the boxes had spilled their contents, which at first glance seemed like a bunch of jack-in-the-boxes piled on top of each other.

"Sorry one second!"

A rather tall boy quickly pushed his way out of the pile of boxes and toys, stumbling towards me. "It's fine." I muttered, watching as he stepped over a fallen shelf and walked down the clean part of the room.

"I may have accidentally knocked over one of the selves." he stated, dusting himself off. "I would be Shuichi Hazama, the Super High School Level Chemist. Feel free to call me whatever you'd like. Shu. Ichi. The Alechemist. Whatever pleases you." Shuichi had messy black hair that partially covered his eyes, along with emerald green eyes. While he was rather tall, he was also thin and wore a long doctor's coat. Under that he had a dark green long sleeve shirt and a pair of dark jeans, along with black shoes. His sleeves were pulled back to his elbows and he also wore a pair of leather gloves. "Strange day we're having."

* * *

Shuichi Hazama

Super High School Level Chemist

Status: Alive

* * *

"Yeah..." I muttered, staring up at him as he looked around the room. "My name is Yuka Takagi."

"Yuri. Got it."

"No uh... Yuka." I corrected, staring at the strange boy as he attempted to grab something off one of the other shelves, pulling down a small dust box.

"Interesting." he yawned, before smiling once again. "Sorry about that Yuki, I'll be sure to remember it." Shuichi Hazama was another one of the more famous students attending Hope's Peak this year. Known as the 'Modern Day Alchemist,' he'd been mixing chemicals since he was a child and was listed on one website's 'TOP 10 HOPE'S PEAK STUDNETS,' even before he attended the school.

"What are you looking for exactly?" I asked, watching the chemist rummage through another box.

"Nothing too important." he muttered, yawning once again as he tossed the box away. "Just a chem-set. Even a child's one would do. Waiting around is getting me a little antsy, so I thought I'd try to spice things up a bit." He chuckled to himself, before sighing. "But it seems like there's nothing for the sort in here."

"I'll keep an eye out for one." He smiled to me, before it seemed like he remembered something.

"Ah, that's right. Pictures." The chemist quickly reach into his coat, pulling out his handbook and snapping a picture of me. I quickly did the same, before staring at him and waiting for him to finish reading my profile. "So the title they gave you was the Survivalist huh... interesting."

I quickly forced a smile and nodded, once again attempting to bury my hatred for the given title before people could remember how I got it. Shuichi simply smiled and dropped his handbook into his coat's pocket and turned back to the shelves, however I couldn't shake the feeling that he saw right through me.

"Well Yummie, I see that you're not finished introducing yourself, so I'll leave you to that."

"Alright... nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too Yuno. Try not to kill anyone."

* * *

**Sorry for another delay, midterms kinda got in the way of having time to write. Then I ended up pulling something in my neck one morning so sitting at the computer was out of the question for a few days. In other news since Friday, I'm on Spring Break until the 23rd, so I should be able to get a chapter up during that time. However, I have to say so far my favorite student to write for is Shuichi. Just how eccentric of a character he's supposed to be makes him fun to write.  
**

**Alright guys four more down, only four left to go. The prologue is ALMOST OVER! JUST TWO MORE CHAPTERS AND WE CAN START CHAPTER 1! So everyone, from now on I'm going to try to keep updates on my profile about how the next chapters doing. I've also got all of the titles for each chapter written up there if your interested. I've also decided a bunch on the sequel (I know I'm really getting ahead of myself but bear with me, I don't do much in my geography and politics class so I have a lot of time to think.), so there's some info on that there too. **

**Also, I deleted the old prologue chapters, so likely anyone that reviewed for chapter 4 or 5 previously won't be able to review for the next few chapters, so if you're unable that's why. I also still haven't received an execution from everyone (or a reason you can't send one in), so if you'd like to send one in, you know where to reach me. One last thing: Starting next chapter I'm going to start 'answering' reviews in the upper portion of the story so if your interested in anything or concerned about something, don't hesitate to ask.  
**

**In other news I'm also thinking about writing my own version of SDR2, so let me know if you'd be interested in reading that. I don't think it would have anything to do with this story, but who knows, maybe that will go somewhere else on its own. Other than that I can't think of anything else important to mention, so I hope you enjoyed and see ya next time.**


	5. Prologue: Strange Bedfellows IV

After my run in with Shuichi in the storage room, I found myself wandering the halls yet again. Almost right after I'd left the room, by the time I got to the cafe, the map suddenly went dead and left me staring at some weird bear-shaped face. There was a small caption on it, simply telling me to meet at the gym. I quickly traced the path to the gym with my finger, just as someone jumped out the cafeteria doors, bumping into me and nearly knocking the handbook out of my hand.

"I'm sorry!"

I quickly turned to see who had bumped into me, finding myself staring at Rieko, who I had barely talked to earlier. "Don't worry, its fine." Rieko stared at me for a second, before sighing and looking around.

"So are you about done with that yet? Everybody but you and the two that just went inside are done."

"I uh... I've got four more to find then I'm done." Rieko nodded and started to walk away, but I quickly spoke up. "But... the handbook says something about heading to the gym now?" The carpenter quickly looked down to check hers, before sighing and nodding.

"That's probably where the others went." Without another word, she spun around and continued down the bland hallways, now heading towards the gym.

*CLICK*

_Ding. Dong. Ding. Dong._

Both of us stopped in our tracks as we heard the monitor system flick on for the first time. It felt like an eternity before a voice that sounded like it was out of a bad weekend cartoon spoke up, instantly

"Upupupup... Attention all Hope Peak Students. As of this moment you bastards are to head towards the gym. I'm tired of waiting for you to get acquainted with each other. There's gonna be plenty of time for that to come. For now just get your lazy butts to the gym now so I can get on with this party."

*CLICK*

With that the monitors shut down once more, leaving the two of us staring at each other for several seconds. "What a rude teacher." Rieko muttered, shaking her head. Somehow, I doubted that whoever was just on the loudspeaker was actually one of the teachers, though they did seem to know everything about what was going on. The other thing that bothered me was that they had mentioned getting a 'party' started.

"We should head over there." Rieko nodded and together to two of us quickly walked down the hallway, taking several minutes to get to the gym, finding another boy standing outside the doors, scratching his head.

"Fifteen and Sixteen." he stated the second he saw us, instantly smiling. "I don't believe we've met yet." The boy had spiked hair and amber eyes, standing a few inches taller than me. His skin was also rather tan and he had a scar under his left eye.

"No." I muttered, walking over slowly and watching Rieko walk past him into the gym. After waiting for the doors to close, I quickly continued to greet the boy, holding my hand out. "Yukari Takagi."

"Nice to meet ya." he stated, quickly shaking my hand. "Name's Hachi Shunaiko. I'm the Super High School Level Jack-of-all-Trades."

* * *

Hachi Shunaiko

Super High School Level Jack-of-all-Trades

Status: Alive

* * *

"Jack-of-all-Trades?" I asked, staring at the boy's appearance as if to gain any clues on exactly what his talent was. He wore a purple shirt with a red heart and black diamond on the left side of the chest underneath a grey hoodie with the same logo, along with a pair of blue jeans .

Hachi nodded slightly, before realizing that I was asking what that meant. "Oh, basically I'm just really good at a lot of things. Sports. Academics. The works. Its a pretty weird title. Most of the people in my old school ended up calling me Jack for a while once they learned that I'd be going here."

"So basically you're just here to make the rest of us feel bad." I stated, not realizing exactly how dry my attempt at a joke had been. Hachi simply chuckled slightly and rubbed the back of his head.

"Who knows." he stated, shrugging as he pushed the door open. "After you."

I quickly walked through the door hoping to find myself already in the gym, but noticing that I was now in a different room that seemed even shadier than the rest of the building. The small room was nothing more than two desks and what seemed to be a sign in sheet. While this may seem normal, the atmosphere of the room simply felt different than the rest of the building. The same gut feeling that I felt just before entering the school hit me once more and I stopped dead in my tracks.

Behind me, Hachi nearly walked straight into me, having to jump around me in order to not hit me. "You okay? Yuka?" Though it took several seconds, I managed to get the feelings under control again and force a smile.

"Sorry... just got a weird feeling. That's all."

Hachi nodded slowly, looking around the room and shaking his head. "Listen Yuka, if you need anything, just ask and I'd be happy to help. Oh but don't tell anyone I said that." I simply nodded once more and pushed open the next set of doors, walking into the next room, which was by far the biggest I'd been in all day. The gym itself was absolutely huge. With both outer walls lined with large bleachers and basketball hoops hanging from the ceiling, it resembled any old high school gym, but just like the previous room, I felt the same uneasy feeling.

On the other side of the gym sat a large pop-up stage that had likely been set up quickly for the purpose of this announcement. Other than several folding chairs, all that sat on top was a simple wooden podium that could be found anywhere inside a school. While all signs still pointed to us being inside Hope's Peak, I couldn't help but feel as if that wasn't the case. What kind of school had iron bars over their windows and was painted a bland grey. Not to mention that all the chairs and tables in the cafe were bolted to the floor. Something about all this just didn't sit well for me, and I knew I was about to learn the reason.

Inside I found myself the center of attention yet again, with Hachi walking in behind me and patting my back. He then quickly headed over towards the others, quickly disappearing into the crowd again. It didn't take long for me to notice the final three students standing among the others. The first was a girl with an exceptionally large hat, the next was a rather tall boy with a deep scowl on his face, and the last being a much smaller boy standing near the back and holding a long cane.

"Took you long enough." the taller boy muttered, shaking his head. Instantly I heard the beep of my handbook updating itself. Upon clicking on the profile section, I found three new files on it, along with Hachi's now containing an updated picture.

* * *

Animi Majikku

Super High School Level Magician

Status: Alive

* * *

Osamu Seiyanagi

Super High School Level Societal Dropout

Status: Alive

* * *

Siseal Atsu

Super High School Level Attorney

Status: Alive

* * *

"Calm down Osamu." Rentaro quickly spoke up, waving me over to the group. Osamu's scowl seemed to grow as he shook the private investigator's hand off his shoulder. Once I got a good look at him, I noticed that Osamu was not only tall but muscular. He had short chocolate brown hair and celadon green eyes along with slightly tanned skin. He wore a black and white double tank top, with a old brown leather jacket loosely hanging from his shoulders. He also had a pair of dark blue jeans and yellow sneakers with black laces. Hanging from his neck was a silver chain with a red gem.

"Listen up everyone. Before the person on the loudspeaker gets here I'd like to ask several questions."

"What for?" Naoki asked, fiddling with her headphones as she nervously looked around. As I looked through the group, I found that nearly everyone had a different expression on.

Rentaro was rather calm and focused. While nobody wanted to say it, without even knowing it himself, he quickly became the leader of the group. Even I felt slightly less nervous when he was around. Riley was busy fiddling with something she pulled out of her apron without a care in the world. Koetsu seemed like he was still focused on the broom closet, humming softly to himself. Kyouji was tapping his foot and staring at the stage intently. Next to him, Ikuo was tapping away at a small rectangular handheld, completely focused on his video game, rather than the current situation. Rieko was staring at the ground, though I could tell that she was still nervous. Ami was staring at the new addition in her handbook, at one point muttering some word that I couldn't understand at all. Kou was busy examining the gym, walking around in an attempt to find anything of interest. Shiori had sat down near the bleachers and was now staring straight up at the ceiling once more. Shuichi now had a beaker in his hand filled with some kind of light blue liquid. After inspecting it for several seconds he simply shrugged and drank the entire thing, slipping the bottle into his pocket and smiling once more. Hachi was attempting to make conversation with Osamu, who seemed like he wanted nothing to do with him. Animi was rocking back and forth on her heels, staring at Rentaro as he spoke. Finally, Siseal tapped his cane against the floor slightly, staring straight at me.

Siseal was rather small and had pitch black hair. He wore a blue t-shirt that sags on his frame covered with a gray hoodie showing Lady Justice on the back along with a pair of long blue jeans that droop slightly and are held in place with a black belt. He also wore a pair of black and red sneakers and had a pair of black glasses hiding his eyes.

"You want to make sure that you understand the situation." he stated, turning towards Rentaro.

The private investigator nodded, taking out his handbook and tapping it several times. "Alright. Now is there anyone here that wasn't supposed to attend Hope's Peak?" Not a single hand rose as he nodded and continued. "Now each and every one of us passed out immediately after stepping foot on school grounds this morning and woke up inside this building?"

"Sounds accurate." Kou said, scratching his head. "But didn't we already know that."

"Its best to know all the facts." Shuichi stated his grin widening slightly as he watched Riley fiddle with one of her tools. I shivered slightly wondering exactly what would go down if the two were to attempt to work together on some kind of project.

"So is this really some kind of entrance ceremony?" Hachi asked, looking back towards the stage. "This just seems a little too weird." Next to him, Rieko tapped her chin, staring at the ceiling.

"I heard that the entrance ceremony is different every year."

Naoki quickly spoke up once more, plugging her headphones into her handbook once more. "Doesn't this seem a little extreme."

"That's what has me worried." Rentaro said, tapping his handbook and putting it back into his pocket. "Something just doesn't seem right."

"Precies." Ami stated, once again speaking in a different language.

"Hey Hachi. C'mere a second."

I quickly turned towards the bleachers, where Osamu was staring up at the first set of windows I've seen all day. Right under the ceiling there seemed to be a long line of short windows that weren't blocked by any sort of bars. "What's up?"

"Think we can get someone up there?"

"You probably could." Riley stated, smiling slightly as she skipped over towards the two boys. "But even if the person could get out the window, they'd likely die from the fall back to the ground, that is if right now we're on the ground floor of the building. Either that or both their legs are broken, which is the bright side of that situation. The bad side would be two broken legs a few dislocated bones, a few ruptured internal organs, some shattered ribs and a spine snapped in half. Let's just say that it would be a slow and painful death if help doesn't arrive soon."

Osamu quickly grumbled about at least having some kind of idea, while Hachi simply chuckled nervously and nodded to the doctor. "Yeah, you're probably right. Bad idea."

"Yuka!" Hearing my name, I quickly turned to find myself face to face with well, with a hat. The wearer was much shorter than me, causing me to back up a step and look down slightly. Animi smiled at me and held up her handbook, showing me my own profile. The magician had black hair in a short ponytail, along with brown eyes. She was easily the shortest of the entire group, if not for the excessively large top hat that sat atop her head. Purple and with a red bow on it, the hat practically added an entire foot to the small girl's height. She also wore a pink short sleeve collared shirt and a low pink skirt, along with a pair of green sneakers. Her clothing was mostly covered by a purple cape that hung over her shoulders.

"Yes?"

"Well you're the last person I need to meet, so I just wanted to say hi." she stated, smiling as she took a slight bow. "Things are a little hectic now so things like introductions seem a little unnecessary, but I want to make sure I met everyone."

I smiled and nodded slightly, looking around. "Any ideas what's going on."

"Not a single one." the magician admitted, shaking her head. For a second I thought the hat was about to flip off her head, but it seemed to defy gravity at the last moment and stayed atop the small girl's head. "Well, I just wanted to say hi. If you wanna talk I'll be over by the big guy." With that she walked off, rushing over towards Osamu who was now picking up some kind of exercise equipment Kou had found behind the bleachers. I looked over to Shiroi once more, wondering if the poet had dozed off, but her eyes remained open, still staring straight at the ceiling.

"You alright?"

Once again, I found myself jumped from behind with another question. However, this time I recognized the voice and turned to face Rentaro, who had shoved his hands into his pockets and was watching the chaotic scene unfold around him.

"Yeah I'm fine." I muttered, taking my hat off and running a hand through my hair. Nearly instantly the private investigator's eyes shot straight towards the single piece that stuck straight up. I sighed and pulled my hat back on once again. "Apparently it runs in the family. Some of my cousins seem to have the same thing. No matter how many times I cut it, it grows back in days."

Rentaro shook his head. "I wouldn't hide it. I think it has character." I quickly shook my head, pulling the hat down slightly.

"Its got nothing to do with that." I muttered, quickly attempting to change the topic. "How much longer do you think we'll be waiting?"

"Who knows." Rentaro admitted, shaking his head. Before I could say anything however, another voice spoke up behind me.

"You two seem to have a good head on your shoulders."

The two of us quickly turned to see Siseal standing behind us smiling. He slowly took off his sunglasses, revealing his pure white eyes. "I think I've figured out where we are."

Rentaro quickly got serious, focusing on the smaller boy instantly. "Where?"

"Well, I may be wrong but I get the feeling that this place is quite literally a prison." he stated, hanging his sunglasses on his shirt's collar. "Not many other places has bars on the windows and iron gates."

"It can't be..." Rentaro muttered bringing his hand to his chin, staring intently at the ground. I quietly stared at the two, my mind still struggling to focus on the fact that we could very well be locked in a prison with no way out. I quickly felt an intense wave of nerves building up in my body and began to shake slightly. Rentaro seemed to notice and went to place a hand on my shoulder, but I quickly moved away, taking at large step back and staring at the fifteen others in the room. For the fourth time in my life I felt my nerves beginning to take hold and felt that at any moment, I was about to burst and all hell would break loose.

Of course what came next didn't help at all.

"Upupupupupu..."

* * *

**This has got to be the quickest I've updated so far. And with that we're finished everyone! I know we didn't get too much of these four, but don't worry I promise they'll all get some screen time, the chapter just went in a completely different direction than how I wrote it. But now we've got all sixteen students introduced and ready to start. Next chapter will be the last part of the Prologue, so after that we'll move onto Chapter 1, which will of course have our first free-time events and the long awaited killing and trial. I've already decided on most of the free times for this chapter, but I decided I'll leave a poll up for you guys to decide who you wanna see more of. (They'll likely have the final Free-Time of the chapter since I've got most of the chapter already worked out.) I also noticed I forgot to put Shuichi's little intro thing in the last chapter. I made sure to go fix it. I also know I said I'd start replying to reviews, but with the problems with the reviewing, I'll likely not be able to until later.  
**

**In other news: I'm back to school, so updates will definitely be erratic as usual. After this chapter I think the reviewing problems should be fixed up since I'm back to how many chapters I had earlier, so that's worked out. Unrelated news: I'm in the middle of trying to complete the Pokedex, so that's probably the major thing that distracts me since the cable in my dorm room's broken. **

**One more thing. I know I don't have to tell you, but keep a look out for clues to who the Mastermind is. I'm not going to tell you where, but through the entire story I'll be leaving really vague hints. I might even have put clues for some of the later trials in the introduction chapters, so keep a lookout for those. Well thanks for reading everyone! Till next time.**


	6. Prologue: Strange Bedfellows V

**Well now that the reviewing issues are done from the removed chapters, I can finally get to replying to everyone's review. Got any questions? Wanna tell me how I'm doing with your character? Have a theory on what's going to happen? Let me know in a review!**

**Artful Lounger: In my original plans for this chapter Yuka went around to find those four just like all the others, but when I started the chapter those plans went out the window. So I'm going to have a lot of Free-Time events during the first chapter (I'm thinking between 6 and 8), three of which I've decided on a character. Now that the bear's in, things are gonna get MUCH crazier, and if those two start working together... the prison won't last much longer.**

* * *

At the sound of the ridiculous laughter along with the feedback from the sound system set up on the stage, the room nearly instantly went quiet and all eyes shot straight to the stage.

"Upupupup... Good Morning everyone. I'd like to welcome one and all to the 79th class's opening ceremony."

"So it is the opening ceremony?" Ami asked, crossing her arms. "There really was nothing to worry about."

"Please be quiet." Shuichi stated, staring intently at the stage. "It seems its not yet finished a addressing us." I looked around the room, hoping to spot whoever was speaking through the speakers, but there was nobody other than us inside. Next to me, Rentaro had taken out his handbook and opened a program I figured was his specialty program, much like my survival notes and Naoki's music playlist. 'Kousaka's Log' filled up most of the top of the screen, with the rest of the page containing a large amount of typed information.

As the sixteen of us stood in anticipation for what came next, the room went silent once more. Several seconds later a soft clicking noise echoed through the room and what seemed to be some sort of stuffed bear popped out from behind the podium, landing on top of it. Half of the bear was colored a plain white, while the other was a dark black. It was also nearly symmetrical, save for the eye on the black side, which resembled a bat and was glowing red.

"A bear?" Ikuo said what all of us were thinking as we watched the small stuffed animal sit up and stretch its arms.

"Finally! Someone who understands exactly what I am." the bear quickly began to speak, standing up on the podium and looking over each one of us.

"What kinda stuffed animal is that?" Hachi asked, scratching the back of his head.

Kyouji frowned next to me, shaking his head. "I've never seen a stuffed animal like that."

Both statements seemed to quickly anger the bear as it leaned forward and waved its fist in the air. "Hey you bastards, I'm no stuffed animal. I'm Monokuma, the headmaster of this academy. Which makes me in charge of all you bastards. Now repeat after me. Nice to meet ya."

"Nice to meet you?"

"Don't answer it idiot." Osamu yelled, glaring down at Koetsu, who shrank back several feet.

"Sorry!"

"Its too early for this..." Shiori muttered, letting out a long yawn.

"Oi. Listen to me when I'm talking to you." Monokuma shouted. It quickly stomped its foot on the podium and waved its fist around again. "Now all of you shut up and listen up before I get angry."

"Interesting..." Shuichi muttered, a small smile creeping up on his face.

"Where are we?" Animi practically yelled over everyone, hoping to have her question answered quickly.

"Where?" Monokuma asked, shaking its head. "Why, you're all obviously inside the newly renovated Redwood Prison. Somewhere you all might recognize as the prison known a the Cavern of Evil is some places."

"The place that housed all the prisoners known for being serial killers and violent gang members?" Ami stared straight at the bear as she questioned it.

"Just the place! But don't worry. I made sure to clean out all the filth from here so it doesn't stain your innocent hopeful minds."

Now everything made sense. The record room, the iron bars, the dorm being known as CELL BLOCK 1 on the first map I saw, even the dull colors and long dusty hallways.

"Now that I've gotten a look at you all, ya don't seem like the hope of the world they were making you out to be. Sure you look talented and stuff, but most of ya look like a bunch of idiots." Monokuma then began to pace around the podium in a small circle. "Well, I guess I still gotta go by the books, so let's get on with it. In order to keep you bastards safe, from none of you are permitted to live anywhere other than this building."

Instantly the crowd jumped to action, most were completely against it, while others, like Riley, were completely alright with it.

"What's so bad about living here? It seems cool enough. A little dull but I can deal with it."

"Wait a minute-" Monokuma quickly cut me off, continuing on his rant as he paced.

"As for the set time in which you will be allowed to live elsewhere." it quickly stopped for a quick laugh, before continuing once more. "Well, it doesn't really exist."

"What?" I muttered, staring in disbelief at the stuffed bear thing. Osamu quickly stepped forward, shouting like always.

"What are you trying to say."

"Explain what you mean when you say it doesn't exist." Rentaro stated, his hand pausing as he typed his notes. Monokuma began to laugh once more, jumping off the podium and landing in the middle of the hole of students.

"In simpler terms for all you stupider folks, from this point forward, you will be living here from now on. Forever."

"You can't be serious?"

"There's no way."

"Stop screwing around."

"Everyone calm down!" Rentaro shouted, placing his handbook back into his pocket. "Now, can you explain to me exactly what is going on."

"Certainly."

Siseal quickly leaned forward, whispering quietly in my ear. "There's something weird going on here. Just stay alert... something doesn't feel right." I nodded in response before turning to listen to Monokuma's explanation.

"Thanks to our very large budget, you guys will always have all the supplies you need. Food. Clothes. And anything else you could possibly think of."

"That's not what's wrong with this situation." Animi said, her hat standing tall among the others.

"Oh! I almost forgot. There is one way that you guys can get out of here. Only if you want though."

"What is it?" I asked almost hesitantly.

Monokuma laughed once more, covering its mouth with its paws as it spoke once more. "I like to call it Graduation."

"Get on with it." Osamu shouted.

"For those of you who wish to see the outside world once more, I've established a certain set of rules."

"Which are?" Shiori spoke up once more, having sat down against the still folded up bleachers.

"If ya'd all stop interrupting me I'd be finished by now." Once again the room went quiet as Monokuma held up a single paw, which now held a set of three small claws. Instantly I felt my body go stiff and everything around me felt as if it was melting away, leaving me alone in nothing but darkness with only Monokuma's grating voice for company. "Oh? What's a matter Yuka? Feeling a bit nervous? I haven't even go to the good part yet?"

Without even thinking, I jumped forward past the others, driving my foot straight into the small bears face, finding it much harder than any stuffed bear should be. It slid against the floor for several feet, before coming to a stop on the other side of the room and standing slowly.

"Miss Takagi. As per rule number five in Hope's Peak School Guidelines. _No student shall be permitted to bring any harm to the headmaster in an way, shape, or form." _The bat-like eye on its face quickly began to blink slightly as it spoke. "Now breaking any school rule warrants severe punishment, but since I haven't explain everything yet, I'll leave you with a simple warning." Almost instantly after it finished speaking the bear went limp, with the blinking becoming more and more rapid.

"Step away from it!"

Without waiting for a reason, all of us stepped back several feet, just before Monokuma exploded, leaving the back corner of the room covered in scorch marks. I stared in disbelief that the small bear I had just kicked had exploded before my eyes.

"What the hell..."

Kou hesitantly took a step forward, looking around the room. "Looks like he's gone."

"It just exploded..." Hachi said, staring at the scorch marks along the floor.

Ikuo walked past him looking for any sign of the bear's remains. "I guess its dead now."

"How did you know what it was doing?" Rentaro asked, turning towards Kyouji, who had spoken up just in time.

"I designed plenty of bombs in my games. I've done a lot of research so that my games would seem as realistic as possible. As much as I hate to say it, I know a lot about explosives, among other dangerous things."

"Wow. That sure shook things up a bit. Its usually after I tell them that they have to kill each other to escape that they try to beat me up."

Once again the room went quiet as the same grating voice returned once more. A second later Monokuma jumped out from behind the podium once again, dusting itself off as it looked at the crowd.

"Another one..." Rentaro muttered, staring at Monokuma, who showed no signs of being involved in an explosion. It took several seconds before I managed to absorb exactly what it had just told us. _It wants us to kill each other? _

"What did you just say..." Naoki asked, her eyes widening as she spoke. I looked around to find that most of the students shared Naoki's look, save for Shuichi and Rentaro, who were both staring intently at Monokuma, Osamu, who seemed furious, and Riley and Siseal, both of whom were oddly calm.

"Its simple kids. Beat. Stab. Club. Slice. Torch. Crush. Strangle. Curse. Whatever floats your boat." While it spoke, Monokuma made overly exaggerated movements as if to demonstrate each way to kill someone.

"Are you trying to say that you want us to kill someone in order to get out?" Siseal asked, tapping his can against the floor quietly.

Monokuma burst into even heavier laughter, even going so far as to roll around as the rest of us watched. "Oh this is rich. All of you 'rays of hope' are being forced to kill one another. I bet even now you're all thinking about how you'd do it in order to escape. Its so exciting!"

As much as I hated to admit it, the thought had crossed my mind already. I had even though of one of the others instantly when told how to escape. "Cut the shit." Osamu stated, cracking his knuckles. "Let us out now."

"I have to warn you Mr. Seiyanagi. Now that you've learned the rule the next time one of you assault me will result in serious punishment."

"Why are you doing this?" Ami asked, shaking as she spoke up. "Why?"

"Aw quit the waterworks. I don't want to hear it." Monokuma shouted, once again jumping down to the ground. "Listen up you bastards. This place is your home now, as dull as it may be. In fact, this place is your entire world from now on. And it will be until one of you decides to kill someone else in order to get out."

Koetsu frowned, shaking his head. "I don't know why you keep saying that. Nobody's going to kill anyone..." Next to him Animi nodded before speaking up as well.

"You can't seriously think any of us would do something like that."

"You can and you will if you want to get out of here." The small bear took a step forward, walking down the center of the room, now heading towards the door.

"Aren't you taking this a little too far?" Rieko asked, her eyes narrowed on the stuffed animal as she fiddled with the ends of her shirt. "I've never heard of such a ridiculous opening ceremony."

"This ain't some act for the opening ceremony kid. Its the real deal." Monokuma then jumped back up onto the podium waving again. "And that's all we have for the opening ceremony folks. Please enjoy the interesting and eventful lifestyle that will take place inside this building." With that statement he slowly began to lower down into the podium, before disappearing all together.

Kou instantly jumped onto the stage and grabbed the podium, picking it up with surprising each. The rest of us were shocked to see that there was nothing underneath or inside of it, as if Monokuma had never been there.

"So if we want to leave, we have to kill someone..." Shuichi said, tapping his chin with the beaker he pulled out of his pocket. "Things just got very interesting..."

"This is insane..." Ami stated. "It can't expect us to do that."

"He does." I muttered, shaking my head. "Without a doubt it wants us to kill each other, and it doesn't care if we're stuck here for the rest of our lives. This situation is without a doubt happening..." I stopped for a second, finding all eyes on me, but for some reason my nerves remained calm as I spoke. "For now we need to stop worrying about if this is real or not, and start worrying about if anyone's taking what it said too far."

The room went quiet once more as I finished speaking. Eyes shifted between people as everyone attempted to evaluate who to talk to and who to avoid, just in case they took it seriously. I found myself staring straight at Rentaro, who seemed to be thinking about some way to diffuse the situation that I realize I had made worse.

"Its no use standing around here." He stated, raising his voice so that the others could hear him over their own concerns. "I'm sure your all as hungry as I am. Why don't we head down to the cafeteria and talk about this. Afterwards if we need to we can look around for a way to escape."

I knew he was trying to help, but I knew that he had without a doubt already completely checked the entire floor. One by one the others headed down towards the cafeteria, and it was only then that I realized how hungry I was. I followed the crowd to the cafeteria, where we each took turns making a simple sandwich and sitting down at the table to eat. I found myself a seat between Ami and Osamu, with the Linguist smiling and waving as I walked over.

"Nice kick." Osamu told me as I sat down, picking up his sandwich and taking a large bite out of it. "You sure you ain't the Super High School Level Soccer Star or something?"

I shook my head, smiling slightly. "No, nothing that interesting." Osamu shook his head, quickly taking a drink from his bottle before setting it down.

"Not interesting?" he asked, turning towards me as I took a small bite. "It seems like unlike everyone else here, I remember who you are." I froze in the middle of taking a bite, slowly turning to look the taller boy in the eyes. "Its not everyday they find someone who's survived on their own for four months. Let alone a ten year old."

I quickly looked to make sure nobody had heard him, though everyone was already absorbed in their own conversations at the table, save for some who simply sat nervously. I turned to once again look at Osamu, who had already nearly finished his entire sandwich.

"I only did what I needed to do."

Osamu then looked towards me once more, finishing the remainder in a single bite before speaking again. "Y'know I heard they usually accept a lucky student every year. Since there isn't one of them here there must be some reason. Maybe your talents just a different kind of luck." At this statement I simply stared down at the table, taking in the final words. There was no way it was luck. The things that I did could never be considered luck in any way.

"Alright everyone, let's start our first meeting." Rentaro stated, placing his plate at the end of the table before sitting down.

"So I'm guessing we'll have one of these every day?" Kou asked. Rentaro nodded and looked around, making sure that everyone was in the room before continuing.

"After lunch I'd like to fully check out the rest of the building to see if we can find any way to escape, and to make sure that he building is completely safe as well."

Animi quickly sat up, placing the remainder of her sandwich on the plate in front of her. "I don't think its dangerous at all."

"What makes you say that?" Ikuo asked.

"Well, after Yuka kicked that bear across the room, he said something about the rules being important here, so I checked out my handbook and there's a new section for rules in the menu." Instantly everyone checked their handbooks and sure enough, there was a small notification in the top right corner. Once I clicked on it a small pop-up saying 'Hope's Peak's School Rules are Now Available!' appeared in the middle of my screen. One more click and I was redirected to a small list of several rules.

**Rule 1:** Students may reside only within the school. Leaving campus is an unacceptable use of time.  
**Rule 2:** "Nighttime" is from 10 pm to 7 am. Some areas are off-limits at night, so please exercise caution.  
**Rule 3:** Sleeping anywhere other than the dormitory will be seen as sleeping in class and punished accordingly.  
**Rule 4:** With minimal restrictions, you are free to explore Hope's Peak Academy at your discretion.  
**Rule 5:** Violence against headmaster Monokuma is strictly prohibited, as is destruction of surveillance cameras.  
**Rule 6:** Anyone who kills a fellow student and becomes "blackened" will graduate, unless they are discovered.  
**Rule 7:** Any and all contact with the outside is strictly forbidden. Anyone found trying to contact someone will be punished accordingly.  
**Rule 8: **All information and documents found inside the school are accurate and should not be questioned.  
**Rule 9:** Additional school regulations may be added if necessary.

"What's this part about the blackened?" Koetsu asked, looking up from his handbook.

"It means guilty in a way." I stated, placing my handbook back into my pocket and looking around. Most of the others had finished eating and the table was cluttered with numerous cups and plates. I quickly stood up with my plate and grabbed everyone else's, not wanting to be involved in the conversation that was to come, mainly since I already understood what everything meant.

Whoever was behind Monokuma simply wanted us all to kill each other in cold blood. As I placed the pile of dishes in the sink, I looked over towards the wall, staring straight at a knife rack hanging above a large cutting board. The entire school was filled with plenty of things that any of us could use to kill each other. From the broomstick Koetsu was going crazy over to the equipment sitting in the gym, along with all the strange tools Riley kept in her apron. Not to mention all the strange things that the storage room was full of. This was all just an elaborate plot to get us all to kill each others.

As I walked back out into the cafeteria, I found myself nearly walking straight into Riley, who was heading towards the door.

"I don't know why you're all so worried. This place is pretty nice and we're being well cared for. Plus, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm not going to kill someone just because some silly bear told me to." With that the doctor walked off, the door slamming closed behind her.

"She gives me the creeps." Osamu muttered, before standing up and smacking Kou on the back. "C'mon kid let's go check out that front door. Maybe we'll find some way to open it up." Kou slowly nodded, following the taller boy out of the room. Soon after nearly everyone else followed. Ami managed to convince Naoki to help her clean the storage room, apparently having found the large mess Shuichi left inside it. Koetsu said something about checking out the garbage room before walking off. Shiori followed soon after, claiming to be going to check out the laundry room when questioned. Hachi followed Animi and Shuichi out, the trio going to look through the gym once more. Rieko went to leave alone, but was forced to go with Ikuo and Kyouji when the former noticed she was walking off alone. Siseal was the last to leave, claiming he just felt like wandering the halls for a little while in order to get a feel of the place.

As I took a step forward to leave, I found myself stopped by Rentaro, who grabbed my shoulder. "Yuka..."

"I know. I put everyone in danger when I kicked it." I shook my head, sighing. "I wasn't thinking straight when I did it." Rentaro nodded, pulling out his handbook and staring at it.

"I won't lecture you about it. We were all on edge. Osamu likely would have attacked if you didn't, and Monokuma might not have been so lenient." He quickly scanned through his notes, talking as he scrolled down the page. "I really just wanted to asked you something."

"What?"

"Do you think anyone will kill someone? Which of the others do you think has the highest chance to do so?"

I turned back to the private investigator, who seemed like he found a section in order to document my response. Even surprising myself I actually laughed a little bit before answering the simple question. "Do I think someone will kill?" Rentaro nodded once again and I turned to stare at the door, shaking me head. "Of course someone will. If I had to tell you who to watch, I'd have to tell you to keep an eye on me. I honestly don't know how I feel about all of this yet."

"Why?"

"Why would I kill someone. Who knows? People tend to kill each other for extremely different reasons. Maybe because of a grudge, or in order to find the truth, because of something or someone I love, maybe because of my ideals or religion, maybe because of hope or despair, and possible even just because I feel like it, and I might even kill someone for something so basic as my own survival..." I frowned yet again, shaking away several thoughts before turning back to Rentaro once more, finding him staring straight at me. "These reason aren't just for me. Any one of us could kill someone for one of these or some other reason. Especially in an environment where it would be extremely easy to get away with."

"Yuka-"

"I'm going to check out my room." I stated, pushing open the doors and walking out of the room, not caring that I may have just placed a giant target on my back. As I walked down the halls, I felt the same feelings I felt right after entering the gym yet again, and deep inside, I knew that someone was going to die soon.

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**Whoa. Three in three weeks huh? Well if you couldn't tell I've had a lot of free time recently. Hopefully this continues, which it should for the time being. Any concerns? Have I been portraying your character correctly? (I know some people didn't get much attention, but in the next few chapters a lot of them will be at least somewhat focused on.) But PLEASE let me know how I'm doing if you haven't already.  
**

**Also, I know I said you guys could vote on who you want to have one of the first free-times in chapter one, but I forgot to put the poll out when I released the last chapter. Now its up and I just want everyone to let me know. **

**I don't believe I have anything else to say, just that I've got a lot planned for this story and after one or two more chapters I'll finally start Chapter 1! Till next time everyone.**


	7. Prologue: Strang Bedfellows VI (END)

**Time to reply to some reviews. Before I even start though, thanks for all the feedback, I'll do my best to improve the story in the coming chapters (And I'll put it through a few extra spell checks).**

**Artful Lounger: Glad I'm doing Riley well. And as for the Free-Time Events, we've already talked a bit about those and if you check the polls... our doctor friend is currently in the lead for a Chapter One Free-Time. Thanks for all the criticism, I'll be doing my best to work on it.**

**ApexUtopia: Yes, the killing game has begun. Rentaro will be a great help in the trials without a doubt, of course unless he ****ends up dead**** first. Glad I'm doing him justice so far though. **

**FireDusk: Glad you like it. I didn't see anything like it when I was planning the story, so it just ended up taking place in a prison.**

**Dreaded Prinny: I'm happy you like it. Osamu's rather fun to write, likely because he's pretty much the loudest character I received, and of course he's one of two people that knows more about Yuka then the others. **

**Shadowplayer360: As I said in one of the earlier chapters Shuichi's one of my favorite characters to write so far. He's still a bit weird, but there's definitely more to him than he's showing.**

**Sp1r1t: Yeah, just like the grammar and spelling problems, I've got to start working in everyone into the bigger scenes better. As for Kou we'll be seeing more of him and the others in the coming chapters.**

**Before I get to the story I've got one more thing. THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER OF THE PROLOGUE! It took a bit longer than I though to get this one out, and I apologize for that, but I'll talk about that later. Anyways, hope you guys enjoy!**

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"Are you sure you picked the right people?"

"Shut up Kou, I know what I'm doing."

I have no idea how I got myself into this mess. After leaving the cafeteria I managed to get to my room and get inside. It was nowhere near anything special. A small desk with several drawers similar to the ones I saw in the Record Room sat in the corner with a single chair next to it. In the center of my room was a small cot that barely looked like it was for me to sleep on. The frame was old and rusted and the mattress looked like someone had thrown it off an office building roof several times and was covered in dust. The blanket was torn in several places and the pillow had stuffing pouring out of it.

That wasn't even the worst part. On the wall across from the desk sat a single toilet and an obviously broken sink. There was no walls for the small bathroom, leaving the extremely dirty toilet out for anyone who walked in to see. Too exhausted to care about the horrible room, I threw myself onto the bed and managed to fall asleep rather quickly, of course until several hours later when someone heavily pounding their fist against my door woke me up.

Long story short, Osamu and Kou somehow managed to get the entire group of use into the gym to play a good old game of dodge ball. Osamu quickly told me that it was Monokuma's idea and dragged me out of my room and into the gym. Monokuma quickly jumped off the bleachers and dropped three red rubber balls on the floor and smiled, quickly informing Osamu and Rentaro that they were the captains and that everyone had to play, no questions asked. Shiori had attempted to leave, though once Monokuma's threat of punishment came up, she sat back down.

Without waiting for anyone else to speak up, Osamu started the selection process, with the two alternating until everyone had been placed on a team. Rentaro's team consisted of Ikuo, Naoki, Riley, Kyouji, Shiori, Koetsu, and Hachi, leaving Osamu with himself, Kou, Ami, Shuichi, Rieko, Animi, Siseal, and me. The rules were quickly explained and the reserve players were sent to sit on the bleachers.

And here we were, waiting for a small black and white bear to blow the whistle and force us to pummel each other until only one team remained. On our side stood Osamu, Kou, Animi, Rieko, and me, facing Rentaro's current team of Ikuo, Riley, Koetsu, Hachi, and Kyouji. The others sat on the bleachers, cheering on their respective teams while Monokuma stool atop the stage, whistle in what I guess was his mouth.

"I don't see how this is fair." Osamu grumbled, shaking his head as he waiting. "We've got a blind kid here."

"We'll be fine." Kou stated, glancing at the other team. "Shouldn't be too hard."

Riley quickly grinned and jumped up, taking out one of her tools from her pouch, which reminded me of a pair of tongs you'd use to take salad out of a bowl. "If someone would like to volunteer, I'm sure I could handle it."

"I think we're alright Riley." Rentaro said, chuckling nervously as he watched the game. Riley simply shrugged and put the tongs back into her pouch.

"Suit yourself."

"If you bastards are done complaining, let's go!" The whistle went off and everyone rushed towards the balls, with the exception of Rieko and I, both staring at the chaotic struggle for a ball. Almost instantly someone managed to beam Kyouji in the face, knocking the game developer off his feet and out of the game.

"Come on Yuka, throw the damn ball." Osamu muttered, tossing one of the balls to me. I sighed and quickly threw the ball towards the other side, missing the remaining four by a mile.

"I'm not too good at this." I muttered, shaking my head. It continued for several minutes before another person was taken out. Animi had made one of the balls 'disappear' pissing Monokuma off and throwing her out of the game. Almost right after that, Hachi managed to smack Kou in the side of the head.

"Sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it." Kou muttered, taking a seat on the bench and rubbing his head. The rapid firing of balls continued until Riley was taken out of the game for 'accidentally' popping one of the balls with a scalpel. A few minutes later I managed to catch a ball thrown by Koetsu and brought Shuichi into the game, only for the Chemist to be hit by a barely thrown ball from Ikuo. Rieko threw a ball towards Hachi, though he managed to catch it easily and brought Rentaro into the game. With this it was three verses two, leaving Osamu and I the last on our team, and Ikuo, Rentaro, and Hachi on the other side.

"Of the Jack of All Trades would be good at this." I muttered, shaking my head. Once again the game continued with nobody being removed for at least ten more minutes, with most of Osamu's throws focused on Rentaro, who was barely dodging each.

"There's other people on my team."

"So?"

I shook my and head grabbed another ball, quickly launching it at Hachi and managing to somehow miss him only to have it bounce off the wall and hit Ikuo in the back.

"Ten points for Yuka!" Monokuma shouted.

Shiori mumbled, shaking her head. "That's not how this game works." Finally Rentaro stopped running and caught one of Osamu's throws, choosing to bring Shiori into the game.

"You can do it Yuka!" Ami cheered from the sides, being one of the only ones doing so as I stood alone against three enemies.

"Give me that." Shiori muttered, snatching a ball of of Hachi's hands and turning towards me. "Sorry about this, but I'd rather not sit around here."

I didn't even have a chance to think about dodging as the ball flew straight at me, knocking me completely off my feet with a single hit to the face.

"That one had to hurt." Kou muttered, shaking his head. Monokuma's laughter echoed through the gym as he stood up to congratulate the winning team.

"You alright?" Ami asked, staring down at me as I slowly sat back up, clutching my head.

Siseal made his way over as I stood up, patting me on the back. "Even I could tell that one hurt."

"I guess." I muttered, quickly glancing over to Shiori, who had sat back down on the bleachers and closed her eyes. "I wasn't expecting that."

"Interesting." Shuichi muttered, grinning slightly as he walked towards the doors. "Its almost nine o'clock, so I suggest everyone heads to the cafeteria for dinner."

"One second!" Monokuma shouted, stopping everyone in their tracks. "I've got a prize for the winners! Even for those who did nothing like Naoki." The composer quickly sank into her seat on the bleachers as the bear continued. "I'm giving each of you ten coins for the machine in the gift shop! Depending on how many you throw in, the better the gift you get. Who knows what kind of fun stuff I left in there. Oh yeah, I also hid more of them all around the school so happy hunting. Good luck bastards!"

With that, the bear left us to our dinner, which took almost an hour complete with everyone struggling to prepare their own in the kitchen. Afterwards Ami suggested that we probably should just take turns cooking for everyone instead of have everyone pushing each other around in the deathtrap of a kitchen. Of course while everyone agreed, this quickly started an argument over who would cook and when. In the end Shiori snatched my hat right off my head, leaving me to cover my face with my hands as everyone got a look at how ridiculous the single piece of hair looked as it stuck out the top of my head.

"This will just take a minute." She muttered, tearing up a piece of paper and writing each of our names on a piece and tossing them into the hat. After pulling each piece out one by one, Hachi was left with the first breakfast the next morning, with the rest of us going later. I quickly snatched my hat and forced it back onto my head, returning to my dinner, which was nothing special. I was a horrible cook, so all I managed to not destroy was a plate of microwave waffles that I had still managed to burn.

Ami, who had sat down beside me quickly glanced at my plate and shook her head, quickly standing up. "No offense to anyone, but I think we should take a few people off the list." After several other agreed, I was quickly taken off meal duty along with Siseal and Kou, though we were all told that we'd be getting another job.

Dinner went by rather quickly after that. As I attempted to cut one of my burnt waffles, I found one of the coins Monokuma had mentioned earlier inside of it and shook my head. It was hard to tell the difference between any other normal school dinner, and for a second while everyone was eating a joking around with each other, I managed to forget for a second everything that was going on.

Of course it didn't last long and I found myself quickly rushing back to my room, only to be stopped by Naoki, who was standing outside my door, apparently about to knock.

"Naoki?" I asked, walking over as the composer nearly jumped into the air. "Do you need something?"

Naoki quickly turned to me, shaking her head. "Oh Yuka… no… I was just wondering if you'd like to go to the shop with me. I wanted to see what kind of things I'd get with these coins."

I stared at her for a second, remembering the coin I found during dinner. I couldn't say I was curious as to what was Monokuma was hiding in those machines. "Sure." I nodded, putting my key back into my vest pocket and following her to the shop.

Just like my room it was likely just another plain cell before Monokuma had gotten his hands on it. Outside was a single iron gate and a large wooden sign duct taped to the wall with the words 'Gift Shop' on it written in white paint. Inside wasn't any better. Most of the room was completely empty except for a single coin machine sitting on a desk in the middle of the room. The machine was painted half black and half white, with a ridiculous cardboard cutout of Monokuma leaning against it with his thumbs up.

"You can go first." I said, as Naoki made her way over to the machine, tossing in several coins. The machine shook violently before popping out a small circular capsule right into her hands. After struggling for a second, she popped it open to find a small packet of multicolored candies.

"This thing is great…" she muttered, quickly putting the candy into her pocket and putting the rest of her coins into the machine. A turn later another capsule popped out, this one holding a headless brown teddy bear inside.

"This is..."

"I'm guessing he wants you to find the head." I joked, shaking my head and walking up to the machine, inserting my own coin into the machine. "Must be a bunch of crappy prizes in there." I quickly turned the handle and the machine resumed its shaking, popping out a bright blue capsule on it. I quickly popped off the top and stared down at my prize. My 'prize' was nothing more than a piece of paper with the word 'HINT' on it in blood red ink.

"Another crappy prize." I muttered, shaking my head, dropping the paper on the ground.

"I wouldn't say that." Naoki and I quickly turned to find ourselves face to face with another student, this one wearing a long lab coat and standing in the shadows. Naoki quickly latched onto my arm, practically hiding behind me. "Sorry didn't mean to scare you."

"Shuichi..." I muttered. "Still looking for that chem-set?"

Shuichi grinned and nodded, walking over towards the machine. "I doubt it will be in here, but I found a bunch of those coins while I was searching the supply closet." He bent over and picked up the discarded paper, placing it in my hand again. "You never know what you'll need later."

"Thanks." I muttered.

"Uh goodnight." Naoki quickly said, dragging me out of the shop and back to the dorms without waiting another second. As I went to unlock my door she quickly turned back towards me, holding the headless toy in her hands. "Thanks for coming with me."

"No problem." I stated, walking into my room and slamming the door. Once again tired I tossed my hat onto the desk and tore off my vest, dropping it onto the floor next to me and practically throwing myself onto the bed. This time however, there was something different with the flat mattress, almost as if there was something underneath it.

I quickly ignored it and attempted to get to sleep, though I couldn't quite manage and jumped too my feet again, flipping the mattress off the frame. Sitting underneath was nothing more that what seemed to be a spoon that had been sharpened to a point. It didn't take long to figure out what this was supposed to be. This was a prison. We were the prisoners. And this was our weapon. All we had to do was kill and we were free once more.

I moved the makeshift knife and embedded it in my desk, kicking off my shoes and laying back down on the bed. It took a lot longer than it should have to get to sleep.

Prologue: Strange Bedfellows: END  
Surviving Students: 16  
Chapter 1: The Valley of Unrest: START

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**Sorry about the wait everyone, once April started I ended up with tons of work (mainly essays, which are nowhere near as fun as writing this) and of course with the end of the school year came exams and moving out, which were both horrible in their own ways. But now that I'm home and everything's settled I can get back to writing once more. ****Also, I'm sure some of you have noticed, but last week I opened submissions for another story that's going to tie in with this one. I encourage everyone to sign up if they'd like but I've already filled a few spaces (I also need more girls). **

**Now that the prologue is over, I'm finished with this poll and the winner of who you guys wanted to have a guaranteed Free Time in chapter one is... Riley! So stay tuned for that eventually, I don't know if it will be in the first or second Free Time part, but once I have the complete lineup I'll be sure. Another thing! Following this chapter we'll have a new poll up. WHO DO YOU THINK WILL DIE FIRST? Yeah, that's a big leap from two people talking to each other. Of course once that's done we'll get a poll for who you guys think the killer is, and that will be that. I'm not 100% sure how long each chapter will be, but I'm going to guess at least ten or more chapters each.**

**I don't really know if anyone can tell or cares, (I sure can't tell the difference) but I switched where I'll be writing the characters from now on, so hopefully the spell checker's better here (It should be, but let me know).**

**I don't really have much else to say other than this last thing. In previous chapters I mentioned that I was 100% sure of the fate of every character and that it wouldn't be changing. Well, I lied. I made a few changes (Mostly just the fates of four characters switched around, everyone else is pretty much the same). I apologize for that, and I don't believe I'll have anymore changes unless something big comes up. Until next time everyone!**


	8. Chapter I: The Valley of Unrest I

**A little late, but not too bad. I've got my reasons (This time there's a good part) as to why it took a little longer. I'm trying to get somewhat of a schedule down, but with my summer class picking up I don't know how long I'll manage it. For now we won't worry about that and get right to the good stuff. I'm not going to respond to any of last chapters reviews, since I don't have much else to say other than thank your for reviewing!**

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_DING DONG_

The sound of my doorbell woke me up nearly instantly. Looking down I quickly confirmed my suspicions. I had slept in my clothes yet again. I really needed to find a few extra pairs. Slowly I pushed myself out of bed, finding that while I slept I had somehow managed to throw what little I had all around the room. My shoes tied together and hanging from the hook on the back of my door. I couldn't find my pillow and my blanket was curled up in the floor. Next to my bed I found my handbook laying next to a cracked alarm clock. I guess it really was as indestructible as claimed.

I made my way over to the door and quickly pulled it open, finding myself face to face with two people.

"Look who finally woke up." Hachi states, grinning slightly as I open the door. "The bear's going crazy since someone didn't wake up at the sound of his alarm."

Next to him, Rentaro smiles, scratching the back of his head. "Some of us were getting worried."

"Sorry…" I muttered nervously, looking back into the mess of a room. "I think I might have… broken my clock."

"I wouldn't tell the bear that."

"What time is it?"

"About two in the afternoon." Rentaro stated. "Well if these clocks are all right it is, but who knows. I was wondering if you'd be alright with helping Hachi and I sort out the record room Riley and I found you by yesterday."

"I-" My answer was quickly cut off by a my stomach letting out a loud growl. My face quickly went red as Hachi chuckled slightly.

"Go get some food and meet us there." he told me, before starting to walk down the hallway. Rentaro began to follow, but quickly stopped and turned towards me again.

"Before I forget. We found a few boxes of clothes in the storage room… well actually there's sixteen boxes with three extra pairs of the clothes we're already wearing. I think Ami went down there earlier to help sort out the room. Someone made a mess of it yesterday."

I quickly thank him and grab my shoes, key, and handbook, before quickly leaving and heading down towards the storage room.

A few minutes later I opened the door, finding the room surprisingly clean. All of the shelves were upright again and most of the stuff were packed into boxes once again. Laying in the corner to my right were three plain white boxes stacked on top of each other. Before I had a chance to look at them, Ami quickly jumped up next to me, grinning for ear to ear.

"Good morning sleepyhead."

"Does everyone know I slept in." I ask quietly, staring down at a small box of water bottles and grabbing one.

Ami's grin widens as she places another box on the nearest shelf, pushing it towards the back. "Oh yeah. Monokuma went absolutely nuts, screaming about how we should always be awake on time and nonsense like that."

"Great..."

"Don't worry about it." She stated, walking over to the corner and grabbing the first box. "Here you go Yuka. Three sets of the same stuff you always wear."

"Thanks." I muttered, taking the box from her and turning around.

"I made sure to pack a few extra things into anyone I might think would like it. You seemed quiet so I threw in a book and desk lamp for you."

I quickly turned back to the smiling linguist. "Oh thank you."

"Don't worry about it." She muttered, quickly returning to her cleaning. I turned towards the door again, staring down at the box, before placing it back on the ground.

"I promised to help Rentaro clean the Record Room, but I should have a little while before then. Need any help?"

Ami nearly dropped a box of hats as she turned, her grin widening once more. "Of course! Could you sort out all those books over there." I nodded and quickly headed down another row of shelves where a small mound of books laid under an open box.

"How does something even fall that way?" I muttered, picked the box up and beginning to drop the books inside, slowly starting a few stacks. After filling the first box I grabbed another, stopping just before putting the first book into it, staring at the cover. _The Basics to Vietnamese._

"Jeez this room is huge…" Ami mutters as I place the book to the side and resuming my stacking.

"Uh Ami?" I ask, slowly turning towards the girl, who had somehow climbed one of the shelves and was pulling another box off the top shelf. "How did you end up in Hope's Peak?"

For a second Ami's grin disappeared, before she jumped down and made her way over to me, bending over to help with putting the books away. "I don't really know. I guess I picked up my first language, which was French, when this new kid came to my school in third grade. I enjoyed talking to him so much that I went and picked up a bunch of more advanced books and ended up fluent in the language within half a year. A few years ago I found myself capable of speaking fifteen different languages easily. After that I ended up being scouted by Hope's Peak and ending up here."

I nodded slightly, closing the box and grabbing a new one. "What languages do you know?"

"Lets see… I know French, English, Japanese, Spanish, Mandarin, Arabic, Portuguese, Russian, German, Cantonese, Korean, Thai, Italian, Hindi, and Greek."

"I can't even imagine speaking more than one." I muttered, dumping the last book into the box, slowly secretly grabbing the book I found earlier as I stood up.

"Thanks for the help Yuka. Can't keep you from Rentaro for too long." Ami stated as she placed the last of the book boxes on the shelf.

"I uh… found this while I was picking up the books." I said quietly, holding out the Vietnamese book in front of me. Ami quickly took it, staring down at it for a second before smiling.

"Looks like soon its going to be sixteen." she stated, placing the book on the shelf next to her. For a second she doesn't say anything, she just stares at me for a second, before speaking up. "I've decided Yuka. Once I finish cleaning this place and I find more clothes I'm going to help you fix that fashion sense of yours."

I smile slightly, picking up my box and turning towards the door. "That sounds great. I'll see you later Ami."

"Auf wiedersehen."

After leaving the storage room, I quickly made my way to the cafeteria, hoping to make a sandwich and shower and change without making Rentaro wait too long. The giant doors were already propped open and I found nobody inside when I entered, so I dropped the box on the nearest table and made my way to the kitchen.

After looking through the cabinets and finding a seemingly endless amount of ingredients, I quickly decided on a peanut butter sandwich, having no faith in my ability to make anything else. It took a few minutes to find a knife that wouldn't slice my hand clean off if I slipped, but I managed to finish the sandwich soon after and even then it didn't look too appetizing."

"Need some help with that?"

For the hundredth or so time since I found myself here I jumped as another person snuck up behind me. I quickly turned, holding the small butter knife in front of me just in case. Koetsu quickly jumped quickly waving his hands in the air.

"Whoa! Careful there. I'd like to keep all my fingers." The janitor quickly started laughing as he looked down at my sandwich again. "Yep, definitely not safe to eat. How do you even mess up a peanut butter sandwich?"

I stated down at the sandwich, before sighing and dropping the knife on the counter. "I'm a horrible cook."

Koetsu smiled and picked up the nearby loaf of bread and took out two more pieces. "That's an understatement. Just gimme a few minutes and I'll have this done in a jiffy."

"You don't have to-"

"Don't worry about it." Koetsu cut me off, quickly opening the jar of peanut butter. "I might not be too good myself, but my mom taught me enough to help out here. Plus you missed my turn at breakfast, so its the least I can do."

"Thanks..." I muttered, watching as he quickly made the sandwich in front of me, my stomach growling even louder since I was around food.

"If you don't mind me asking Yuka, what's got you down?"

The question startled me to say the least. Typically I tried to spend as little time around people as I could, but since I came here, one after another somebody's made an effort the talk to me. "Just… a little nervous about being here. That's it."

Koetsu smiled once more, quickly pushing the sandwich together and cutting it in half. "Don't worry too much. There's always something to be happy about in every situation." He stopped, quickly closing the jar of peanut butter and twisting the bread bag shut. "For example, you met everyone here. You seemed pretty close to Ami and Naoki yesterday. Plus Rentaro and Hachi seem to like you. Even Osamu went out of his way to chat with you."

I wouldn't really call that a friendly chat, but he did have a point. Since coming here I've actually made a few friends and even though its only been a day I feel better than I have. "I guess so."

"So smile!" he stated, handing me my sandwich and dumping the knife into the sink. For a second he goes to leave the kitchen, but stops mid step and runs back to the sink to wash it.

The two of us left the kitchen and I quickly headed over to grab my box, turning to Koetsu, who had taken the mop and bucket out of the closet. "Thanks Koetsu."

"Don't worry about it." he stated, before going to leave the room. I quickly followed, but while balancing my box in one hand and the sandwich in another, the large box quickly slipped out of my hand, its contents spilling across the floor. Koetsu quickly stopped and bent over, pushing the clothes and lamp into the box. He quickly picked it up and handed it to me, looking down at the book before his eyes widened and he dropped the book on top of the box, dragging the mop and bucket behind him as he ran off. "I'll uh… see you later Yuka."

"…Thank you?" As I watched the short boy sprint down the hallway, I wondered exactly what had caused him to run away like that. It didn't take long to get back to my room, which was just as messy as I left it. I dropped the box on my bed and my plate on the desk, taking out the lamp and plugging it into an outlet near the desk. Without even glancing at it I threw the book next to it and grabbed a pair of clothes, running into the shower quickly.

I wouldn't have guessed it, but the shower itself was actually quite nice. Unlike the toilet, it was in its own room and looked rather new. The water was actually hot and there was shampoo and soap sitting on a little shelf inside. After several minutes I was finally clean and quickly used a towel to dry myself off. As I was putting on the clean pair of clothes, I found the shirt was a size too big and after quickly confirming the rest were the same size, sighed. I decided to deal with it for now and that I would look for a smaller size later in the day, silently wondering if this was a prank from Ami or if it was Monokuma messing with me for waking up late.

I rolled the sleeves up and buttoned it up before pulling on my vest and buttoning it as well. Finally able to take a minute to sit down, I collapsed into the chair and took a bite out of my sandwich. After eating half of it my eyes settled on the book Ami had put into my box earlier. It didn't seem too long, but the title was the first thing that caught my eyes.

Without a doubt the book was something I would never even think I'd read, it seemed to be some kind of dirty novel that old women would read when they found no pleasure in their own lives. Even only reading the title managed to leave me flustered. I quickly turned to book over, making a mental note to both question Ami and return the book after helping Rentaro. I ate the rest of my lunch and grabbed my stuff, making sure to have my keys before leaving the room.

Once I got into the Record Room, I found both Hachi and Rentaro at work separating the files one by one. As I walked in I quietly knocked on the doorway, making sure not to startle either of them. Hachi quickly looked up and grinned, dumping a large pile of files into the cabinet. Rentaro looks up slightly, before return to his pile.

"There you are." Hachi stated, closing the cabinet and resuming his work on the floor.

"Sorry I wanted to shower."

"Don't worry about it." Hachi said, motioning to the middle of the room. "Pick a pile."

Upon entering the room I found it was just as hot as the last time I was in it, but smelled a lot better. Likely the first thing the two did was deal with the source so it wouldn't bother them while they worked.

I found a clear spot on the floor and got to work, sorting through the files. Most seemed to be inmate reports, completely confirming our location to be a prison. A few others were incident reports but nothing seemed to help us at all.

"Well isn't this fun." Hachi muttered, before chuckling slightly. "Sorry, its just a bit quiet."

"Its fine." Rentaro muttered, as he jotted something down into his handbook and returned to work. I dropped several files into a nearby cabinet and look around once more. We were finally almost done cleaning the floor, which was actually visible in some parts now.

"So..." Hachi started as he closed another cabinet. "You guys have any siblings?"

I frowned slightly, thinking about my home life for a second, before focusing once more on the task at hand. "No."

"None." Rentaro stated, pulling another file out of the drawer he was rummaging though.

Hachi sighed once more as he stood up, stretching. "Me neither. Though I guess sometimes I wish I did. Sometimes I wonder how things would have worked out if I did."

It took several hours but once we put most of the files away, the Record Room looked nearly completely clean. "Almost done." I muttered, dropping a large stack on top of one of the desks and resuming my work.

After a while Rentaro quickly stood up, quickly rummaging through the rather new looking file he now held in his hands. "Look at this..." he muttered, dropping the file on the desk. Across the cover were the words 'MUTUAL KILLING'

"Mutual Killing..." Hachi muttered, scratching the side of his head as he read. "I think the bear told me something about that being what he calls this kind of thing when I asked him about the rules yesterday."

"Except in this file, there's nothing that has to do with us, or the current state of the prison." Rentaro stated, flipping through the file's pages before pointing at one section. "Here it says something about gathering the inmates in cell block four, and then something about the most cunning inmate… but that's it. The rest of it is just rambling. Nothing useful."

"Maybe." I started quietly, staring down at the file before speaking up. "Maybe what's happening to us happened once before? And the 'most cunning' would be the one who killed someone?"

"It could have something to do with that..." Rentaro stated. "But I feel like there's things missing." He tapped his hand on the desk several times before walking out into the hallway. "Monokuma!"

Both Hachi and I followed him out as the bear quickly jumped out from the dark hallway. "What is it? I was enjoying my mid-day drink." His eyes settled on me after a second and his expression quickly turned angry. "Well look who decided to drag their butt out of bed. I've got half a mind to punish you for not following the rules."

"There's no rules for sleeping in." Hachi pointed out, staring down at the bear, who quickly grinned.

"No. But there is a rule about destroying building property."

Rentaro quickly shook his head. "There isn't. The only things we were forbidden from destroying were the cameras." Monokuma quickly frowned, before turning his attention back to me.

"Tomorrow I expect you up on time. Now what did you want?"

"Some of the files are altered."

Monokuma starts to laugh at the statement, before shaking his head. "All of the files are one hundred percent accurate, just like I told you, but I may have switched some of them around."

"So where's the rest of the files."

"I dunno. Here. There. Everywhere. Nowhere." With that statement Monokuma walks off, cackling as he disappears into the darkness.

"I really don't like him." Hachi mutters.

Rentaro shakes his head, before looking at his handbook. "Almost dinnertime… Thanks for your help. If you could keep the stuff about the file to yourselves. I'll finish up here and meet you two at dinner. I heard Rieko's making some kind of soup."

"I'll see you later then." Hachi stated, before wandering off towards the cafeteria. I decided to head back to my room first, to make sure that I returned the book, though I couldn't get the file we had found out of my head.

* * *

**Alright everybody, that's two Free Times down and Four to go… or is it. So far we've gotten Free Times for Ami and Koetsu, with Hachi and Rentaro getting a little bit of screen time (though that was more for plot than a Free Time, so I won't consider it one.) I actually had this chapter done for several days, but kept it until now because I intended to surprise everyone with a double update. Things didn't work out how I intended and we're getting close to one month without a chapter. So for the next update I'll be putting out two more chapters, which should lead up to the beginning of Chapter 1's Deadly Life. I'm not sure if we'll find out who kicks the bucket then or the chapter after, but we'll see. Once again sorry about the wait but get excited for the next set of updates!**

**Also, I started Storm of the Century a little over a week or so ago. Since both stories are going to tie in together, I urge you guys to read both. It won't matter much while I'm writing this one, but if I actually finish and move onto the finale, well you might be a little lost. That said, that's all I have to say for now. **


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